Henkel Corporation

Janet R Varvil

Patrick M McCurry, Jr

Michael W Gibson

James D Beaulieu

Carl E Pickens

Robert L Klein, Jr

Brian A Michel

Glycoside products having a propensity to discolor and/or to exhibit haze under aqueous alkaline or neutral pH conditions can be stabilized to substantially reduce the extent of discoloration and to essentially eliminate any haze which might also be present by adjusting the pH of an aqueous solution of the alkyl glycoside product to about 7 prior to treatment with a metal borohydride material which at the end of the reaction period is consumed resulting in a stabilized alkyl polyglycoside product which does not exhibit a haze in an aqueous solution at a pH of about 7.

Method for preparing stabilized alkyl glycosides

A continuous method of bleaching an alkylpolyglycoside, substantially free of alcohol, with peroxy compounds, preferably hydrogen peroxide, which is highly efficient to provide an unexpected high degree of color reduction from a dark brown to a light, white product, from an extinction coefficient color respectively of about 10 to about 15 to about 0.025 to about 0.15. The bleaching is carried out at controlled pH and temperature, under pressure preferably in the presence of Mg or MgO.

Continuous bleaching of alkylpolyglycosides

A process has been discovered for making alkyl polyglycoside which comprises reacting a fatty alcohol having from about 8 to about 22 carbon atoms with a sugar, in the presence of an acid catalyst, to form a product of alkyl polyglycoside and excess fatty alcohol. The molar ratio of fatty alcohol to sugar, respectively, is at least 2:1. The excess fatty alcohol is then separated from the alkyl polyglycoside product. Once separated, the excess fatty alcohol is then reacted with a source of boric acid to form a mixture comprised of one or more borate esters of the fatty alcohol and inert compounds. The non-hydroxylic compounds are then separated from the borate esters. The substantially pure fatty alcohol is then returned to the beginning of the process for use in the formation of alkyl polyglycoside.

Process for making alkyl polyglycosides

An improved process for preparing an alkylpolyglycoside wherein the alkyl group contains about 8 to about 20 carbon atoms, prepared by reacting a saccharide and an alcohol in the presence of an acid catalyst, and subsequently removing excess unreacted alcohol, the improvement comprising adding to the reaction product an oxide, such as MgO, and removing the excess unreacted alcohol by thin film evaporation under vacuum at temperatures up to about 240.degree. C. under sparging or non-sparging condition with an inert gas.

Process for the production of alkylpolyglycoside

Glycoside products having a propensity to discolor and/or to exhibit haze under aqueous alkaline or neutral pH conditions can be stabilized to substantially reduce the extent of discoloration and to essentially eliminate any haze which might also be present by adjusting the pH of a hydrogen peroxide-free aqueous solution of the alkyl glycoside product to about 7 prior to treatment with a metal borohydride material which at the end of the reaction period is consumed resulting in a stabilized alkyl polyglycoside product which does not exhibit a haze in an aqueous solution at a pH of about 7.

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Chalfont, PA, United States of America

Janet R Varvil