摘要 |
The present invention relates to nonionic compounds of the polyoxymethylene type that are low-foaming and can be used as surfactants, especially in cleaning compositions at an alkaline pH. They are obtained from unsaturated nitriles, that have been epoxidized with e.g. hydrogen perroxide, and alkyl blocked polyalkylene glycols. The nonionic nitrile surfactants can be reacted further with e.g. hydrogen peroxide under alkaline conditions to obtain nonionic amide surfactants. Amide derivatives of this type could also be obtained by reaction between ammonia or a primary or secondary amine and an acid or ester. The nonionic compounds exhibit one or several structure elements according to formula (II)in the aliphatic carbon chain where AO is an alkyleneoxy group containing 2-4 carbon atom, R3 is an alkyl group with 1-4 carbon atoms and n is a number between 1 and 30. |