Lever Brothers Company, Division of Conopco, Inc.

Jan E Iburg

Ronald Hage

Marten R Van Vliet

A bleaching/cleaning composition is provided that includes a surfactant, a peroxy bleach compound and a ligand L which is a macrocyclic organic compound of formula: ##STR1## wherein: t is an integer from 2 to 3;

Bleach activation

A stable and effective manganese complex for use as a peroxy compound bleach catalyst is disclosed, the catalyst being a water-soluble complex of manganese (II), (III), or (IV) or mixtures thereof with a ligand which is a non-carboxylate polyhydroxy compound having at least three consecutive C--OH groups in its molecular structure. Bleaching composition comprising a peroxy compound and the catalyst, as well as process for bleaching substrates using said catalyst are also disclosed. Preferred ligand is sorbitol and preferred catalyst is Mn-sorbitol complex.

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Vlaardingen, Netherlands

Jan E Iburg