NONIONIC SURFACTANT SYSTEMS CONTAINING POLYHYDROXY FATTY ACID AMIDES AND ONE OR MORE ADDITIONAL NONIONIC SURFACTANTS

摘要

The present invention provides nonionic surfactant systems comprising: (a) one or more polyhydroxy fatty acid amides having formula (I), wherein R<1> is H, a C1-C4 hydrocarbyl, 2-hydroxy ethyl, 2-hydroxy propyl, or mixtures thereof, R<2> is a C5-C31 hydrocarbyl, and Z is a polyhydroxyhydrocarbyl having a linear hydrocarbyl chain with at least three hydroxyl groups directly connected to the chain, or an alkoxylated derivative thereof; and (b) one or more additional nonionic surfactants; wherein the weight ratio of polyhydroxy fatty acid amide (a) to additional nonionic surfactant (b) is in the range of from about 1:5 to about 5:1. The present invention also provides laundry detergent compositions which contain the nonionic surfactant systems described above. When included in such laundry detergent compositions, these nonionic surfactant systems unexepctedly improve the stain removal performance of such compositions against greasy/oily stains across a broad range of laundry conditions. This invention further provides a method for improving the stain-removing performance of detergent compositions by incorporating into such compositions the nonionic surfactant systems described above.