Personal Washing Detergent Bars With an Effective Amount of a Citric Acid Ester

This invention relates to detergent bars intended for use in personal washing.

A useful commercial property for detergent bars of this class is the ability to provide a deodorancy effect on the skin. The present invention describes detergent bars capable of providing a deodorancy effect and containing from about 0.3% to about 3% by weight of an ester of citric acid, or an acetyl derivative thereof, with the formula ##STR1## wherein R.sub.1, R.sub.2 and R.sub.3 are each hydrogen or an alkyl group containing from 1 to 4 carbon atoms, provided at least one of R.sub.1, R.sub.2 and R.sub.3 is an alkyl group and R.sub.4 is hydroxyl or a CH.sub.3 COO-- group. Preferably the bar contains from about 0.5% and preferably up to about 1% by weight of the ester. The optimum level is about 0.75%. The preferred members of the R.sub.1, R.sub.2, R.sub.3 alkyl radicals are ethyl and butyl. The ester is preferably a triester. The remainder of the bar will comprise detergent active material and other components, for example perfumes, pigments, water content, opacifiers, germicides, preservatives, inorganic salts, plasticisers and pH controlling additives.

The detergent bars of the invention will contain detergent active materials from the classes of soaps, anionic actives, cationic actives, nonionic actives and zwitterionic actives. Examples of detergent actives usable to form the detergent bars of the invention will be found in "Surface Active Agents" by Schwartz & Perry (Interscience 1949) and "Surface Active Agents" Vol 2, by Schwartz, Perry & Berch (Interscience 1958). Specific examples of detergent active materials are listed in UK patent specification No. 1460442. (German specification No. 2401752) The term "soap" is used to define water soluble salts of long chain aliphatic acids containing from 8 to 24 carbon atoms in the alkyl chain, and these are preferred actives. These salts may be of alkali metals or ammonium and the acids may be derived from natural sources or through synthetic routes.

The citrate ester is preferably incorporated at the mixing stage for additional ingredients. At this stage perfume and pigments will be added. The detergent material will then be subjected to the steps of milling, plodding, extrusion and stamping to form bars.

The benefit of skin deodorancy is achieved from the detergent bars of the present invention even though the materials providing the deodorancy benefit are contacted with the skin in the presence of a solution of a detergent active material and the skin is subsequently subjected to rinsing after washing. The citric acid derivatives providing the deodorancy benefit retain their ability during storage in a detergent bar in the presence of detergent active materials and a water content. The water content of soap bars is usually in the range 8% to 10%. Bars containing detergent actives other than soap may have a water content as low as about 5% or as high as about 15%.

Examples of the citric acid derivatives included within the formula are triethyl citrate, acetyltributyl citrate and acetyl triethylcitrate.

Examples of detergent bars according to the invention will now be given.

Soap bars containing 80 parts tallow soap, 20 parts coconut soap of which 5 parts are free fatty acids (expressed as coconut oil fatty acids) were prepared containing the citric acid derivative in the amount specified in Table I. Control soap bars were also prepared.

A panel of 40 subjects was used to test the deodorancy effect achieved with the test soap bars on the axillary areas. Control bars were used to wash one armpit and test bars the other armpit of each subject. Olfactory assessment of the odour level in each armpit was performed five hours after washing on a scale 0 to 5, with the latter limit being the strongest odour. The averages of the scale assessment are given in Table I and are the means of the assessments taken on four consecutive days.

The deodorant effect provided by acetyl tributyl citrate (ATBC) was studied using different concentrations, assessment periods and formulations. The test procedure was that described above and the results are given in Table II.