Lever Brothers Company

Ian R Cox

Zia Haq

Keith Jones

Jeffrey D Hampson

Reginald Billington

Skin treatment products especially for absorbing axillary perspiration are described containing certain absorbent polymeric materials having good absorbency for aqueous solutions containing ionic species. The polymeric materials are made by a process which involves the polymerization of a high internal phase emulsion containing 75% to 99% water as the internal phase.

Skin treatment product

A detergent composition with especially good foaming properties includes a di(C.sub.7 -C.sub.9) alkyl sulphosuccinate, preferably a di(C.sub.8 alkyl) sulphosuccinate, and an unsymmetrical dialkyl sulphosuccinate in which one alkyl group is C.sub.7 -C.sub.9 and the other is C.sub.3 -C.sub.6, preferably a (C.sub.6 alkyl) (C.sub.8 alkyl) sulphosuccinate. A di(C.sub.3 -C.sub.6) alkyl sulphosuccinate may advantageously be present. An especially preferred mixture comprises di(n-octyl), (n-octyl n-hexyl) and di(n-hexyl) sulphosuccinates, and this mixture may be prepared by esterifying maleic anhydride or the like with a mixture of n-octanol and n-butanol, followed by bisulphite addition. The detergent composition is preferably in liquid form and is suitable for shampoos, fabric washing and, in particular, manual dishwashing.

Detergent compositions containing sulphosuccinate mixtures

The invention provides novel dialkyl sulphosuccinates in which one alkyl group is C.sub.6 and the other is C.sub.8, both alkyl groups preferably being straight chain. The soluble salts of these materials are useful detergents, exhibiting outstandingly good foaming performance, and may be used, for example, in shampoos, fabric washing compositions and, in particular, manual dishwashing compositions.

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Merseyside, United Kingdom

Ian R Cox