Bleach activators with improved solubility

#The invention relates to bleach activator particles which have improved solubility and performance in an aqueous wash liquor. The present invention also encompasses detergent compositions utilizing these particles.

#It is well known that by adding surface bleaching components to a detergent composition that the detergent composition's cleaning performance can be improved. Bleaches are useful for removing dingy soils (which is usually a mixture of particulate and oily materials) from the surface of a textile and as well as soil build-up which after numerous cycles of usage and washing results in muted colors and grayer white fabric areas. Bleaches are also very useful in reducing the microbial presence on textiles which provides sanitization benefits increasingly desired by consumers.

#Typically, peroxygen bleaches capable of yielding hydrogen peroxide in aqueous solutions are used to treat textile and fabric articles and are very effective for removing stains as well as soil materials from textiles. But such bleaching species are also highly temperature dependent as they are effective only in aqueous solutions or wash liquors having a temperature of greater than about 60° C., but becoming less and less effective as the temperature of the solution is lowered below 60° C.; while increasing the concentration of the hydrogen peroxide bleaching species extends the useful effective range of the bleaching species below 60° C., such increases are not only inpracticable for large-scale commercial detergent production but are also ineffective at lower wash temperatures. This temperature dependence of peroxygen bleaches is significant because such bleaches are commonly used as a detergent adjuvant in textile wash processes that utilize an automatic household washing machine at wash water temperatures below 60° C. (particularly in North America and Japan).

#By the phrase “cylindrically-shaped extrudates” it is meant an extruded particle having a surface shape generated by a straight line moving parallel to a fixed straight line and intersecting a fixed planar closed curve.

#By the phrase “an effective amount” it is meant a detergent composition containing a bleach activator is any amount capable of measurably improving both soil removal from and sanitization of the fabric when it is washed by the consumer. In general, this amount may vary quite widely.

#By “hydroligancy” it is meant the average number of water molecules attached to the cation of an inorganic salt.