Patent ID: 7205267

Claim:
A method for catalyzing a bleaching compound in a laundry detergent or a cleaning composition containing a surfactant, said method comprising adding to the bleach compound, a bleach catalyst comprising a transition metal complex of formula (I) [M(L)Y n ]X m (I) where M is a manganese metal atom; L is a ligand of the general formula (IV), where R4 is ethyl, X and Y are each an uncharged or an anionic ligand selected from the group consisting of CH 3 CN, chloride, bromide, nitrate, perchlorate, sulfate, citrate, hexafluorophosphate, trifluoromethanesulfonate, tetrafluoroborate, tetraphenylborate, an anion of organic acids having C 1 –C 22 carbon atoms, and mixtures thereof, n and m are each a number from 0 to 4, wherein said laundry detergent or cleaning composition contains from 0.0025% by weight to 1% by weight of the transition metal complex.