Claims
- 1. A stable oil-in-water microemulsion cleaning composition which is especially effective for the removal of oily and greasy soil from a hard surface and for repelling insects therefrom, the aqueous phase of said microemulsion comprising by weight of the total composition:
- (A) from about 0.1% to about 25% of a surfactant mixture of
- (i) an anionic surfactant;
- (ii) a nonionic surfactant; the weight ratio of (i) to (ii) being from about 1:1 to about 5:1; and
- (iii) a salt of a multivalent metal cation in an amount sufficient to provide from 0.1 to 1.5 equivalents of cation per equivalent of (i); the anionic surfactant, the nonionic surfactant and amount of multivalent metal cation being selected so as to provide a cloud point of at least about 45.degree. C. in the finished microemulsion composition comprising components (A)-(D);
- (B) from about 0 to 5% of a fatty acid;
- (C) from about 0.1% to about 30% of a water-soluble cosurfactant selected from the group consisting of (a) water-soluble C.sub.3 -C.sub.4 alkanols, polypropylene glycol and C.sub.1 -C.sub.9 alkyl ethers and C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl esters of ethylene glycol or propylene glycol, (b) aliphatic mono- and di- carboxylic acids containing 3 to 6 carbons in the molecule, (c) C.sub.9 -C.sub.15 alkyl ether polyethenoxy carboxylic acids of the structural formula R(OC.sub.2 H.sub.4).sub.n OXCOOH wherein R is C.sub.9 -C.sub.15 alkyl, n is a number from 4 to 12 and X is selected from the group consisting of CH.sub.2, C(O)R.sub.1 and C(O), wherein R.sub.1 is a C.sub.1 -C.sub.3 alkylene group and (d) mono-, di- and triethyl phosphate, and
- (D) the balance water; the oil phase of said microemulsion being comprised of an effective amount of an N-lower alkyl neoalkanamide compound, and optionally a perfume or water insoluble hydrocarbon, said microemulsion composition being effective for removing oily and greasy soils from a hard surface and repelling insects therefrom by solubilizing such soils in the microemulsion while concomitantly depositing the N-lower alkyl neoalkanamide upon hard surface to be cleaned to provide insect repelling properties thereto.
- 2. A cleaning composition as in claim 1 wherein the multivalent metal cation is magnesium or aluminum.
- 3. A cleaning composition as in claim 2 wherein the multivalent salt which provides magnesium cation is magnesium oxide, magnesium chloride or magnesium sulfate.
- 4. A cleaning composition as in claim 3 wherein said magnesium salt is present in an amount to provide from about 0.5 to 1.0 equivalents of cation per equivalent of anionic surfactant.
- 5. A cleaning composition as in claim 1 wherein said anionic surfactant is paraffin sulfonate.
- 6. A cleaning composition as in claim 1 wherein the N-lower alkyl neoalkanamide is a N-alkyl neoalkanamide wherein the alkyl is of 1 to 2 carbon atoms and the neoalkanoyl moiety is of 7 to 14 carbon atoms.
- 7. A cleaning composition as in claim 6 wherein the N-alkyl neoalkanamide is methyl neodecanamide.
- 8. A cleaning composition as in claim 1 which is essentially free of an insecticide.
- 9. A process for cleaning a hard surface and for repelling insects therefrom comprising applying to said hard surface a microemulsion cleaning composition as described in claim 1.
- 10. A process according to claim 9 wherein said N-lower alkyl neoalkanamide is methyl neodecanamide.
- 11. A process according to claim 9 wherein the microemulsion cleaning composition is essentially free of an insecticide.
- 12. A process according to claim 9 wherein the multivalent metal cation is magnesium or aluminum.
- 13. A process according to claim 12 wherein the salt of magnesium or aluminum is present in an amount to provide from about 0.5 to 1.0 equivalents of cation per equivalent of anionic surfactant.
Parent Case Info
This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/228,314 filed Apr. 15, 1994 now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (3)
Number |
Name |
Date |
Kind |
5108643 |
Loth et al. |
Apr 1992 |
|
5182304 |
Steltenkamp |
Jan 1993 |
|
5258408 |
Steltenkamp |
Feb 1993 |
|
Foreign Referenced Citations (4)
Number |
Date |
Country |
0316726 |
May 1989 |
EPX |
0525892 |
Mar 1993 |
EPX |
0525893 |
Mar 1993 |
EPX |
0619363 |
Dec 1994 |
EPX |
Continuations (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
228314 |
Apr 1994 |
|