Laundry care compositions, methods, and test kits for determining authenticity

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a laundry care composition having at least one laundry care ingredient and at least one leuco composition conforming to Formula (I):wherein Ar2 and Ar3 are independently a carbocyclic aryl or heteroaryl, and Ar1 is selected from the group consisting of: unsubstituted phenyl, electron deficient carbocyclic aryl, and heteroaryl. The present disclosure also provides a method of determining an authentic laundry care composition and test kits for detecting authentic laundry care compositions.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of determining an authentic laundry care composition, the method comprising the steps of:
 a) providing a laundry care composition having a first color, wherein the laundry care composition comprises at least one laundry care ingredient and at least one leuco composition that conforms to Formula (I):                         wherein Ar 2  and Ar 3  are independently carbocyclic aryl or heteroaryl, and Ar 1  is selected from the group consisting of: unsubstituted phenyl, electron deficient carbocyclic aryl, and heteroaryl;   b) adding a triggering agent to the laundry care composition, wherein the triggering agent causes the at least one leuco composition to change from a colorless state to a colored state; and   c) detecting the change, wherein the change from the first color to the second color is visually perceptible.   
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein Ar 1  is selected from the group consisting of unsubstituted phenyl, nitro-substituted carbocyclic aryl, furan, thiophene, pyridine, and indole. 
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein Ar 1  is furan. 
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein at least one of Ar 2  and Ar 3  is a phenyl ring substituted with an electron donating group. 
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 4 , wherein the electron-donating group is a substituted amine covalently bonded to the phenyl ring at a position para to the carbon atom connecting the three Ar groups. 
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 5 , wherein Ar 2  and Ar 3  are phenyl rings with independently selected substituted amines covalently bonded to each phenyl ring at a position para to the carbon atom connecting the three Ar groups. 
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 6 , wherein the substituted amines conform to the formula -NR 4 R 5 , and wherein each R 4  and R 5  are independently selected from the group consisting of: H, C1-16 branched alkyl, C1-16 linear alkyl, C1-16 substituted branched alkyl, C1-16 substituted linear alkyl, C7-16 substituted alkaryl, C7-16 unsubstituted alkaryl, polyoxyalkylene, and mixtures thereof. 
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 7 , wherein at least one R 4  and R 5  is a polyoxyalkylene comprising 3 to 60 ethylene oxide repeating units. 
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 8 , wherein R 4  and R 5  are polyoxyalkylenes comprising 3 to 60 ethylene oxide repeating units. 
     
     
         10 . The method according to  claim 9 , wherein R 4  and R 5  are polyoxyalkylenes comprising 10 to 25 ethylene oxide repeating units. 
     
     
         11 . The method according to  claim 10 , wherein the laundry care ingredient is selected from the group consisting of surfactants, builders, chelating agents, dye transfer inhibiting agents, dispersants, enzymes, enzyme stabilizers, catalytic materials, bleach activators, polymeric dispersing agents, clay soil removal agents, anti-redeposition agents, brighteners, suds suppressors, dyes, perfume, perfume delivery systems, structurants, fabric softeners, carriers, hydrotropes, processing aids, pigments, antioxidants and mixtures thereof. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the change from the first color to the second color has a color change score (DE*) of at least 2. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein Ar 1  is selected from the group consisting of unsubstituted phenyl, nitro-substituted carbocyclic aryl, furan, thiophene, pyridine, and indole. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the Ar 1  heteroaryl is furan. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein Ar 2  and Ar 3  are phenyl rings each with independently selected substituted amines conforming to the formula —NR 4 R 5  covalently bonded to each phenyl ring at a position para to the carbon atom connecting the three Ar groups, and wherein each R 4  and R 5  are independently selected from H, C1-16 branched alkyl, C1-16 linear alkyl, C1-16 substituted branched alkyl, C1-16 substituted linear alkyl, C7-16 substituted alkaryl, C7-16 unsubstituted alkaryl, polyoxyalkylene, and mixtures thereof. 
     
     
         16 . The method according to  claim 15 , wherein the triggering agent is selected from the groups consisting of: sodium hypochlorite, calcium hypochlorite, sodium dichlorocyanurate, alkali metal N-chloro(4-methylbenzene)sulfonamide, N-chlorosulfamate, N-bromosuccinimide, tetrachloro-1,2-benzoquinone, DDQ, (2,3-Dichloro-5,6-dicyano-p-benzoquinone), and mixtures thereof.