Patent ID: 7094745

Claim:
A method of improving the bleaching effect of a peroxygen compound at temperatures below 80 degrees Celsius, said method comprising adding to the peroxygen compound a transition metal complex having a lactam ligand as a bleaching catalyst wherein the transition metal complex has the formula (1) M(L) n X m in which M is a metal atom from the group consisting of Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Mo, and W, and mixtures thereof, L is a ligand comprising a cyclic carboxamide selected from the group consisting of substituted azetidinone, unsubsitiuted azetidinone, 2 pyrrolidinone, gamma-valerolactam, delta-valerolactam, epsilon-caprolactam, dodecanelactam, pyrrolones, 3-morpholones, hydrocarbostyril, isohydrocarbostyril, benzopiperidone, naphthostyril and, phenanthridone, X is chloride, bromide, nitrate, perchlorate, citrate, hexafluorophosphate or anions of organic acids having C 1 –C 22 carbon atoms and n is a number from 2 to 4 and m is a number from 0 to 4.