Metal ligand containing bleaching compositions

In a method for inhibiting the absorption and adsorption of any absorbable or adsorbable species onto an absorbent or adsorbent substrate by exposing the species and the substrate to a bleaching agent, the improvement comprising:

• exposing the species and the substrate to an aqueous solution comprised of:
• (1) an oxidatively stable bleach activator having the structure ##STR8## wherein Y.sub.1, Y.sub.3, and Y.sub.4 each represent a bridging group having, zero, one, two or three carbon containing nodes for substitution, and Y.sub.2 is a bridging group having at least one carbon containing node for substitution, each said node containing a C(R), or a C(R )2 unit and each R substituent being the same or different from the remaining R substituents and being selected from the group consisting of methyl, cycloalkyl, cycloalkenyl, alkenyl, aryl, alkynyl, alkylaryl, halogen, alkoxy, or phenoxy, CH.sub.2 CF.sub.3, CF.sub.3 and combinations thereof, or form a substituted or unsubstituted benzene ring of which two carbon atoms in the ring form nodes in the Y unit, or together with a paired R substituent bound to the same carbon atom form a cycloalkyl or cycloalkenyl ring, which may include an atom other than carbon;
• M is a transition metal with oxidation states of I, II, III, IV, V or VI, or selected from the Groups 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 of the Periodic Table;
• Q is any counterion which would balance the charge of the compound on a stoichiometric basis;
• L is any labile ligand;
• and,
• (2) an amount of a source of an oxidizing compound effective for inhibiting the absorption and adsorption the adsorbable or adsorbable species onto the substrate, wherein the adsorbable or adsorbable species is oxidized in the solution at a rate sufficient to inhibit the adsorption and absorption thereof onto the substrate.