Keto-ammonium compounds
The invention concerns new keto-ammonium compounds with surfactant properties and improved biodegradability.
1. An ionic compound of general formula I
wherein R and R′, which may be the same or different at each occurrence, are a C 4 -C 27 aliphatic group,
X is a monovalent radical represented by formula (II)
wherein R 1 and R 2 , which may be the same or different, are hydrogen or a C 1 to C 4 alkyl group, R 3 is hydrogen,
R x is hydrogen or an aliphatic group of 1 to 6 carbon atoms, and wherein * denotes the position through which the monovalent radical is bound to the rest of the ionic compound X′ is hydrogen or is a monovalent radical represented by formula (II) or wherein X and X′ together form a divalent radical of formula (III)
wherein R x , which may be the same or different, are hydrogen or an aliphatic group with 1 to 6 carbon atoms, and R 4 and R 5 , which may be the same or different, are hydrogen or a C 1 to C 4 alkyl group, and
wherein * denote the positions through which the divalent radical is bound to the rest of the ionic compound.
2. The compound in accordance with claim 1 wherein X is a monovalent radical represented by formula II and X′ is hydrogen.
3. The compound in accordance with claim 1 wherein X is a monovalent radical represented by formula II and X′ is a monovalent radical represented by formula (II).
4. The compound in accordance with claim 1 wherein X and X′ form together a divalent radical of formula (III).
5. The compound in accordance with claim 1 represented by any of formulae I′, I″ and
wherein R, R′, R 1 , R 2 , R 4 and R 5 have the meaning as defined in claim 1 .
6. The compound in accordance with claim 1 wherein R 1 , R 2 , R 4 and R 5 are a C 1 to C 4 alkyl group.
7. The compound in accordance with claim 1 wherein R 1 , R 2 , R 4 and R 5 are methyl.
8. The compound in accordance with claim 1 wherein the aliphatic groups R and R′ have from 6 to 24 carbon atoms.
9. The compound in accordance with claim 8 wherein the aliphatic groups R and R′ have from 8 to 20 carbon atoms.
10. The compound in accordance with claim 1 wherein the aliphatic groups R and R′ are independently chosen from alkyl and alkenyl groups, preferably from alkyl groups.
11. A mixture comprising a first compound of formula I in accordance with claim 1 wherein X is represented by a group of formula II and X′ is hydrogen and a second compound of formula I in accordance with claim 1 wherein both X and X′ are represented by a group of formula II.
12. The mixture in accordance with claim 11 wherein the molar ratio of the two compounds is in the range of from 90:10 to 10:90.
13. The mixture in accordance with claim 11 comprising a compound of formula I′ and a compound of formula I″ as defined in claim 5 .
14. An electroneutral compound of general formula (IV)
wherein R, R′, X and X′ are as defined in claim 1 , W is an anion or an anionic group bearing w negative charges and r is the number of substituents X and X′ which are represented by formula (II) or (III).