Patent ID: 7268103

Claim:
A process for solubilizing perfumes in water, comprising combining (i) one or more perfumes which are 1% or less soluble in water and are liquid at room temperature, (ii) one or more esters of hydroxycarboxylic acids with alkoxylated fatty alcohols wherein the hydroxycarboxylic acid is selected from the group consisting of citric acid, lactic acid, malic acid, tartaric acid, gluconic acid and mixtures thereof and the alkoxylated fatty alcohols correspond to the general formula (I): R-O-(C 3 H 6 O) m (C 2 H 4 -O-) n -H (I) in which m stands for 0, 1 or 2 and n stands for 1 to 10, and the substituent R is a saturated, unsaturated, branched or unbranched C 8-22 alkyl group, wherein the resulting hydroxycarboxylic acid ester contains a free carboxylic acid or salt thereof, and (iii) water, wherein the combination contains less than 5%, based on total weight, of the free hydroxycarboxylic acid, and wherein the ratio of the one or more alkoxylated esters of hydroxycarboxylic acids (ii) to the one or more perfumes (i) is from 2:1 to 1:1.