ANTI-STAINING AGENT

Abstract

The present invention is an anti-staining agent containing, (a) a sulfosuccinic acid branched alkyl ester in which the branched alkyl group is a branched alkyl group with 8 or more and 13 or less carbons [hereinafter referred to as component (a)]. Further, the present invention is an anti-staining method including bringing a treatment liquid into contact with an object to be treated, the treatment liquid containing component (a).

Claims

1: An anti-staining agent, comprising: a sulfosuccinic acid branched alkyl ester, in which the branched alkyl group is a branched alkyl group with 8 or more and 13 or less carbons, as component (a).

2: The anti-staining agent according to claim 1, wherein the branched alkyl group of the component (a) is a branched alkyl group having a main chain with 6 or 7 carbons and one or more side chains with 3 or 4 carbons in total.

3: The anti-staining agent according to claim 1, wherein the branched alkyl group of the component (a) is a branched alkyl group selected from the group consisting of a 2-propylheptyl group and a 3,5,5-trimethylhexyl group.

4: The anti-staining agent according to claim 1, wherein the agent is used for preventing an oil stain from adhering to a hydrophobic surface.

5: The anti-staining agent according to claim 1, wherein the agent is for use in an automatic dishwashing machine.

6: An anti-staining method, comprising: bringing a treatment liquid into contact with an object to be treated, the treatment liquid comprising a sulfosuccinic acid branched alkyl ester, in which the branched alkyl group is a branched alkyl group with 8 or more and 13 or less carbons, as component (a).

7: The anti-staining method according to claim 6, wherein the treatment liquid comprises 1 ppm or more and 500 ppm or less of the component (a).

8: The anti-staining method according to claim 6, wherein the branched alkyl group of the component (a) is a branched alkyl group having a main chain with 6 or 7 carbons and one or more side chains with 3 or 4 carbons in total.

9: The anti-staining method according to claim 6, wherein the branched alkyl group of the component (a) is a branched alkyl group selected from the group consisting of a 2-propylheptyl group and a 3,5,5-trimethylhexyl group.

10: The anti-staining method according to claim 6, wherein the object to be treated has a hydrophobic surface.

11: The anti-staining method according to claim 6, wherein the object to be treated is tableware.

12: The anti-staining method according to claim 6, wherein an automatic dishwashing machine is used to bring the treatment liquid into contact with the object to be treated.

13: The anti-staining agent according to claim 1, wherein the component (a) is a sulfosuccinic acid branched alkyl ester represented by formula (a1): ##STR00003## where R.sup.1a and R.sup.2a each independently represent a branched alkyl group with 8 or more and 13 or less carbons; A.sup.1 and A.sup.2 each independently represent an alkylene group with 2 or more and 4 or less carbons, and x and y represent an average number of added moles and each independently represent 0 or more and 6 or less; and M.sup.1 represents a hydrogen atom or a cation.

14: The anti-staining method according to claim 6, wherein the component (a) is a sulfosuccinic acid branched alkyl ester represented by formula (a1): ##STR00004## where R.sup.1a and R.sup.2a each independently represent a branched alkyl group with 8 or more and 13 or less carbons; A.sup.1 and A.sup.2 each independently represent an alkylene group with 2 or more and 4 or less carbons, and x and y represent an average number of added moles and each independently represent 0 or more and 6 or less; and M.sup.1 represents a hydrogen atom or a cation.

15: The anti-staining method according to claim 6, wherein the treatment liquid has a pH of 2 or more and 10 or less.

16: The anti-staining method according to claim 6, wherein the treatment liquid has a temperature of 40° C. or more and 80° C. or less.

17: The anti-staining method according to claim 6, wherein the treatment liquid is brought into contact with the object to be treated by application, immersion, or spraying.

Description

EXAMPLES

[0080] Component (a) or (a′) listed below was dissolved in water with 3.5° DH to prepare the treatment liquids shown in Tables 1 to 3. Component (a′) is a comparative component for component (a). Further, the pH of the treatment liquids was measured by a glass electrode method. The cmc values are those under an atmospheric pressure, at 25° C., with pure water and at a pH of 7.

Component (a)

[0081] The carbon numbers of branched alkyl groups are shown in the parentheses. a-1 is a sulfosuccinic acid branched alkyl ester synthesized using a branched alcohol commercially available as ISALCHEM123 (manufactured by Sasol Limited) (12 carbons/13 carbons=37-48/52-63 (mass ratio), a branching rate of 92 mass % or more (Sasol Limited's catalog value)). [0082] a-1 sodium di-(branched alkyl with 12 carbons/13 carbons) sulfosuccinate (in which the alkyl groups each have 12 or 13 carbons) [0083] a-2 sodium di-(2-propylheptyl) sulfosuccinate (in which one alkyl group has 10 carbons), cmc: about 500 ppm [0084] a-3 sodium di-(3,5,5-trimethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate (in which the alkyl groups each have 9 carbons), cmc: about 600 ppm [0085] a-4 sodium di-(2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate (in which the alkyl groups each have 8 carbons), cmc: about 1100 ppm
Component (a′) [0086] a′-1 sodium di-(1,3-dimethylbutyl) sulfosuccinate (in which the alkyl groups each have 6 carbons), cmc: 3000 ppm or more [0087] a′-2 sodium dodecyl sulfate, cmc: about 2800 ppm [0088] a′-3 sodium 1-dodecane sulfonate, cmc: about 3000 ppm [0089] a′-4 sodium laurate, cmc: about 6000 ppm [0090] a′-5 polyoxyethylene lauryl ether (product name: EMULGEN 106, manufactured by Kao Corporation), the average number of added moles of the ethyleneoxy group: 5, cmc: about 20 ppm [0091] a′-6 7EO adduct of a secondary alcohol with 12 or more and 14 or less carbons (product name: SOFTANOL 70, manufactured by NIPPON SHOKUBAI CO., LTD.), EO: an ethyleneoxy group, cmc: about 40 ppm

(1) Anti-Staining Evaluation 1

[0092] A clean polypropylene plate (8 cm×3 cm, a surface energy of 26 mN/m) was placed in 300 mL of each of the treatment liquids of the compositions shown in Table 1, and while stirring the treatment liquid, 0.5 g of liquid paraffin was fed thereto. 60 seconds after feeding liquid paraffin, this plate was pulled up and dried, and the mass of the plate to which liquid paraffin adhered was measured. An increase in the mass of the plate before placing it in the treatment liquid and after adhering liquid paraffin to it was divided by the area of the front and back surfaces of the plate to determine a value used as the adhesion amount of oil (mg/cm.sup.2). The results are shown in Table 1.

(2) Anti-Staining Evaluation 2

[0093] 1 μL of triolein was adhered to a polypropylene plate, and the plate to which triolein was adhered was immersed in each of the treatment liquids of the compositions shown in Table 2. This treatment liquid was heated to a temperature of 50° C., and the contact angle of triolein was measured. The results are shown in Table 2. The results in Table 2 show that when the polypropylene plate is brought into contact with the treatment liquids including the anti-staining agents, high contact angles are attained. This result suggests that the anti-staining agent of the present invention reduces solid-liquid interfacial energy on hydrophobic surfaces, making oil stains such as liquid oil or the like less likely to adsorb to the hydrophobic surfaces.

[0094] In particular, it is understood that the treatment liquids including the anti-staining agents of the present invention can attain anti-staining effects even if they are very dilute solutions having concentrations lower than the cmc.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Example Comparative example 1-1 1-2 1-3 1-4 1-5 1-6 1-7 1-8 1-1 1-2 1-3 1-4 1-5 1-6 1-7 1-8 1-9 Treat- Com- (a) a-1 100 20 ment po- a-2 100 20 liquid sition a-3 100 20 (ppm) a-4 100 20 (a′) a′- 100 20 1 a′- 100 20 2 a′- 100 20 3 a′- 100 20 4 Water Bal- Bal- Bal- Bal- Bal- Bal- Bal- Bal- Bal- Bal- Bal- Bal- Bal- Bal- Bal- Bal- Bal- ance ance ance ance ance ance ance ance ance ance ance ance ance ance ance ance ance pH (25° C.) 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 Eval- Adhesion 1.4 0.0 0.1 0.4 2.0 0.2 0.4 0.9 4.5 4.3 4.1 3.7 9.1 9.0 3.4 3.5 5.2 uation amount of oil (mg/cm.sup.2)

TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Example Comparative example 2-1 2-2 2-3 2-1 2-2 2-3 2-4 Treatment Composition (a) a-2 20 100 liquid (ppm) a-3 100 (a′) a′-2 100 a′-3 100 a′-5 20 a′-6 20 Water Balance Balance Balance Balance Balance Balance Balance pH (25° C.) 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 Evaluation Contact angle of 80 82 80 1 1 12 15 oil droplet (°)

(3) Anti-Staining Evaluation 3

[0095] A clean polypropylene plate (8 cm×3 cm) was immersed in each of the treatment liquids of the compositions shown in Table 3 for 1 minute. After pulling up this plate from the treatment liquid, a portion 3 cm from the lower end of the plate was immersed in triolein and immediately pulled up, and the adhesion amount of oil (mg/cm.sup.2) adhering to the portion immersed in triolein was determined. Specifically, the mass of oil adhering to the plate was determined from the difference in the mass of the plate before and after immersing it in triolein, and this mass of oil was divided by the area of both surfaces of the plate (3 cm×3 cm x front and back) to determine the adhesion amount of oil (mg/cm.sup.2). The results are shown in Table 3. This result suggests that if hydrophobic surfaces are treated in advance with the anti-staining agent of the present invention, oil stains such as liquid oil or the like are thereafter less likely to adhere to the hydrophobic surfaces.

TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 Example Comparative example 3-1 3-2 3-1 3-2 3-3 3-4 Treatment Composition (a) a-1 100 liquid (ppm) a-2 100 (a′) a′-1 100 a′-2 100 a′-4 100 Water Balance Balance Balance Balance Balance Balance pH (25° C.) 6 6 6 6 6 6 Evaluation Adhesion amount 9 6 12 13 13 15 of oil (mg/cm.sup.2)