Field of Invention

The present invention relates to a wipe holding a liquid composition comprising 1 ,5-pentanediol, uses of such wipes, as well as methods for producing such wipes.

Background of Invention

Wet wipes are typically pre-moistened, disposable towelettes which may be utilized in a variety of applications both domestic and industrial and perform a variety of functions. Wet wipes are typically used to wipe both animate and inanimate surfaces. One particular application is the use of wet wipes for wiping parts of the human body particularly when wash water is not available, for example when traveling, or for cleaning of immobilized persons, where bringing that person to a bathroom for cleaning is shown cumbersome. Wipes are commonly used for human cleansing and wiping such as anal, perineal cleansing and genital cleansing and face and hand cleansing for example as intimate hygiene wipes such as feminine wet wipes. Wet wipes may also be used for application of substances to the body including removing and applying of make-up, skin conditioners and medications. Another application of wipes is during diaper changes and also for the treatment of adult and baby dermatitis partly caused by the use of diapers and incontinence devices

Wet wipes are commonly constructed of combinations of synthetic and natural fibres, such as polyolefin fibres, viscose fibres and cotton fibres, which are generally moistened with an aqueous composition which contains amongst others surfactants, preservatives, oils and scents. The wet wipes are then typically provided in a covered container having a lid or a dispensing aperture. In both cases this allows easy transportation and storage of the wipes.

Using wet wipes for cleaning of areas with sensitive skin, such as in the anal, perineal and genital area puts extra demands on the wet-wipes to be non-irritating. For example, after intimate shaving, the skin often gets irritated or extra sensitive. There is a need in the art for wet wipes that are especially tailored for use to cleaning such sensitive skin.

Summary of the Invention

One object of the present disclosure is to at least partly meets the need in the art, and the present inventors have found that a wipe in accordance with claim 1 have skin beneficial effects and may be used to strengthen the skin barrier, therefore being suitable to be used on sensitive skin. Consequently, in a first aspect, the present disclosure relates to a wipe comprising a web substrate holding a liquid composition, the liquid composition comprising 0.05 to 10 wt% 1 ,5-pentanediol.

By cleaning skin with a wipe in accordance with the present disclosure, 1 ,5-pentanediol is deposited on the skin, or the skin is contacted with 1 ,5-pentanediol, such that the 1 ,5-pentanediol can exert its skin barrier enhancing effect thereon.

This and other aspects of the present disclosure is apparent from the following detailed description of the invention.

Detailed description of the Invention

A wipe of the present disclosure comprises a web substrate holding a liquid composition, the web substrate and the liquid composition being described hereafter in more detail. The liquid composition may be held in the web substrate by means of capillary forces in the web, i.e. impregnated in the web, or may be contained, encapsulated, in solid particles, such as hollow particles or in a solid matrix, which in turn are held by the web substrate, and which particles/matrix breaks when subjected to an applied mechanical pressure, to release the liquid composition. The wipe of the present disclosure is preferably especially suited and adapted for cleaning of skin, more preferably suited and adapted for cleaning of skin in the intimate area of the human body, for example the genital, anal and perineal area.

The web substrate, herein also simply referred to as "web", may be selected from a wide range of materials. The web may be nonwoven material, a tissue paper, or a hybrid material comprising both natural and synthetic fibres.

According to the present disclosure the wipe comprises a web substrate which is coated or impregnated with a liquid composition. The substrate may be woven or nonwoven, foam, sponge, battings, balls, puffs or films, most preferably a nonwoven and may be composed or natural or synthetic fibres or mixtures thereof. The substrate may comprise hydrophobic fibres, and may comprise hydrophilic fibres. Preferably, the substrate is a mix of hydrophilic fibre material such as viscose, lyocell, cotton, or flax and a hydrophobic fibre material such as polyethylene tetraphthalate (PET) or polypropylene (PP), for example in a ratio of 20%-80% hydrophilic and 80%-20% hydrophobic material by weight.

The substrate preferably has a dry basis weight of at least 20 gm ^~2 and preferably less than 150 gm ^-2 , and most preferably the base weight is in the range of 20 gm ^-2 to 70 gm ^-2 , more preferably from 50 gm ^"2 to 65 gm ^"2 . The substrate may have any caliper. Typically, when the substrate is made by a hydroentangling process, the average substrate caliper is less than 0.8 mm. More preferably the average caliper of the substrate is from 0.1 mm to 0.4 mm. The substrate caliper is measured according to standard EDANA nonwoven industry methodology, reference method #30.4-89. The bulk density of the substrate is preferably not more than 1.0 g/cm ³ , preferably not more than 0.9 g/cm ³ , most preferably not more than 0.7 g/cm ³ .

In addition to the fibers used to make the substrates, the substrate can have other components or materials added thereto as known in the art. The types of additives desirable will be dependent upon the particular end use of the substrate contemplated. For example, in wet wipe products such as moist toilet paper, paper towels, facial tissues, baby wipes and other similar air laid products, high wet strength is a desirable attribute. Thus, it is often desirable particularly for cellulose based substrates to add chemical substances known in the art as wet strength resins. A general dissertation on the types of wet strength resins utilized in the paper art can be found in TAPPI monograph series No. 29, Wet Strength in Paper and Paperboard, Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry (New York, 1965). In addition to wet strength additives, it can also be desirable to include certain dry strength and lint control additives known in the art such as starch binders. Furthermore, the substrate may also comprise agents to improve the optical characteristics of the substrate material such as opacifying agents, for example titanium dioxide.

According to the present invention the substrate may be produced by any methods known in the art. For example, nonwoven substrates can be formed by dry forming techniques such as air- laying or wet laying such as on a paper making machine. Other nonwoven manufacturing techniques such as melt blown, spun bonded, needle punched and spun laced methods may also be used. A preferred method is hydroentangling.

Examples of web substrates for use in accordance with the present disclosure include AQ 60gsm 70/30 Viscose/PET, carded spunlace (Novita), 60gsm 100% lyocell (Tencel) carded spunlace (Suominen), 45gsm ca 30% PP, ca 50% pulp, ca 20% PET spunbond-pulp-carded + spunlace (Suominen) and 45gsm 20/80 viscose/PET, carded spunlace (Suominen)

After being formed, the web may be after-treated. Suitable after-treatments include embossing, calendaring, patterning, creping, needling, perforating, impregnating, printing with ink, thermal treatment or combinations thereof. The after-treatment may take place over the entire surface of the web, or over only certain regions thereof.

The web may be a laminate of one or more plies, such as two, three or four plies. Plies of a given web may be the same or different in terms of their constitution, the technique used in their formation or their after-treatment. The plies of the web may be joined to neighboring plies in any manner. The plies may be joined over the entire surface of the web, or over only certain regions thereof.

Joining can be accomplished in a number of ways such as hydro entanglement, needling, ultrasonic bonding, adhesive bonding and thermal bonding. Ultrasonic bonding is performed, for example, as described in US 4,374,888. Thermal bonding of a multilayer laminate may be accomplished by passing the laminate between the rolls of a calendaring machine. Lamination of two or more tissue plies can take place via adhesive or mechanical embossing techniques, or a combination of these techniques. Lamination of embossed plies may be in a foot-to-foot, nested or decor fashion.

The wipes in accordance with the present disclosure may have any geometrical shape. Suitably, the wipe takes a generally square or rectangular shape with a width of from 5 to 40 cm and a length of from 5 to 40 cm.

The liquid composition held by the web substrate to form wipes of the present invention comprises from 0.05 to 10, such as from 0.1 to 4, for example from 0.5 to 2 wt% of 1 ,5-pentanediol.

The compound 1 ,5-pentanediol, also referred to as pentamethylene glycol, is the organic compound with the formula HO-CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2-OH. It is commercially available, and can be synthesized according to methods known to the person skilled in the art.

Unless otherwise noted, any reference herein to a physical form or characteristics of an entity, such as for example "solid" or "liquid", pH, viscosity, surface tension, etc refers to the physical form or characteristics of that entity at 23 ⁰ C and 1 atm pressure.

The liquid composition in accordance with the present invention is preferably a skin cleaning composition, and comprises, in addition to the 1 ,5-pentandiol, a liquid base, and dermatologically acceptable ingredients, such as skin cleansing and skin conditioning agents, as is known in the art.

The liquid composition in accordance with the present disclosure may be in the form of a solution, emulsion, such as an oil-in-water emulsion or a water-in-oil emulsion, suspension or suspoemulsion.

The liquid composition may comprise at least 50, such as at least 70, for example at least 80 wt% water, such as from 50 to 99.95 wt% water, preferably deionized or distilled. The liquid composition may further comprise dermatologically acceptable ingredients apart from water and 1 ,5-pentanediol. The concentration of such dermatologically acceptable ingredients, if present, may be from 0,5 to 40, such as from 1 to 25, for example from 5 to 15 wt%, based on the total weight of the liquid composition. The wipe in accordance with the present disclosure may hold from 0.1 to 10, such as from 0.5 to 5 g of the liquid composition per gram of dry web substrate. The amount of the liquid composition held by the substrate web depends on the both the web substrate and the liquid composition, e.g. the porosity, hydrophobicity, hydrofilicity of the web substrate, the viscosity, the composition of the liquid composition. The amount of liquid composition is preferably chosen such that the amount of 1 ,5-pentanediol deposited on the treated surface when the wipe is used is sufficient to have the desired effect.

The amount of liquid composition held by the wipe is preferably at, or close to, the maximum amount able to be held by the web substrate, i.e. the web substrate is, or is essentially, saturated with the liquid composition, such that the wipe is not, or essentially not, able to absorb any further liquid composition.

The liquid composition according to the present disclosure may for example, in addition to 1 ,5- pentane diol, further comprise at least one other C3-C10-diol, preferably of the formula (CH2)nH202, wherein n is an integer from 3 to 10, such as 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10. Accordingly, the diol (s) may have hydroxyl groups on the diols, which are connected to different carbon atoms. Examples of diols are propane-1 ,2-diol, propane-1 , 3-diol, butane-1 ,2-diol, butane-1 ,3-diol, butane-1 ,4-diol, 2- methylpropane-1 ,2-diol, 2-methylpropane -1 , 3-diol, pentane- 1 ,2-diol, pentane-1 , 3-diol, pentane-1 , 4-diol, 2-methyl- pentane-2,4-diol, pentane-2, 3-diol, pentane-2,4- diol, hexane-1 ,2-diol, hexane-1 , 3-diol, hexane-1 , 4-diol, hexane-1 ,5-diol, hexane-1 ,6-diol, hexane-

2.3- diol, hexane-2, 4-diol, hexane-2,5-diol, hexane-3, 4-diol, heptane-1 ,2-diol, heptane-1 , 3-diol, heptane-1 , 4-diol, heptane-1 ,5-diol, heptane-1 ,6-diol, heptane-1 , 7-diol, heptane-2, 3-diol, heptane-

2.4- diol, heptane-2, 5-diol, heptane-2, 6-diol, heptane-3, 4-diol, heptane-3,5-diol, octane-1 ,2-diol, octane-1 , 3-diol, octane-1 , 4-diol, octane-1 , 5-diol, octane- 1 , 6-diol, octane-1 , 7-diol, octane-1 , 8-diol, octane-2, 3-diol, octane-2,4-diol, octane-2, 5-diol, octane-2, 6-diol, octane-2, 7-diol, octane-3,4-diol, octane-3, 5-diol, octane-3,6-diol and octane-4, 5-diol. The stereochemistry of the diols is not important to the present invention, and enantiomers, diastereomers, tautomers and racemic mixtures of diols may all be used with good results. Indeed, the requirement that the diols be "different" should be understood to mean that they differ in the connectivity of the atoms (regioisomerism) and not in whether they are e.g. R/S or +/-.

The liquid composition in accordance with the present disclosure may comprise at least one dermatologically acceptable ingredient selected from the group consisting of chelating agents, humectants, preservatives, emollients, surfactants, pH-buffering agents, antioxidants and fragrances.

The concentrations of the individual such dermatologically acceptable ingredients may vary and depend on the nature of the specific dermatologically acceptable ingredients, as will be appreciated by the person skilled in the art. Chelating agents suitable for use in accordance with the present disclosure includes, but are not limited to phosphates, EDTA, sodium citrate, zeolite compounds and other chelating agents known the person skilled in the art.

Humectants suitable for use in the accordance with the present disclosure include, but are not limited to triethylene glycol, tripropylene glycol, propylene glycol, polypropylene glycols glycerin, sorbitol, hexylene glycol, butylene glycol, urea, collagen, allantoin and other humectants known to the person skilled in the art.

Preservatives suitable for use in the accordance with the present disclosure include, but are not limited to parabens, such as Germaben II, methylparaben, propylparaben and butylparaben, formaldehyde releasers, such as Germall Plus, DMDM Hydantoin, imadozolidinyl urea and diazolidinyl urea, isothiazolinones, alcohols, such as phenoxyethanol and benzyl alcohol, organic acids or salts thereof, for example benzoic acid, sodium benzoate, sorbic acid, potassium sorbate, levulinic acid, anisic acid and dehydroacetic acid, as well as other preservatives known to the person skilled in the art.

Emollients suitable for use in the accordance with the present disclosure include, but are not limited to cetyl alcohol, silicone-based compounds, such as cyclomethicone and dimethicone, grape seed oil, petrolatum, ceramides, dicaprylyl carbonate, and other emollients known to the person skilled in the art.

Surfactants suitable for use in the accordance with the present disclosure include non-ionic surfactants, cationic surfactants, anionic surfactants, zwitterionic surfactants and amine oxides, and may for example be alcohol alkoxylates, alkanolamides, alkyl(poly)glycosides, sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), ammonium lauryl sulfate (ALS), sodium laureth sulfate (SLES), taurates, isethionates, olefin sulfonates, sulfosuccinates, amines, alkylimidazolines, alkoxylated amines, quaternized ammonium compounds, sodium lauriminodipropionate, disodium lauroamphodiacetate, betaines, and cocamidopropylamine oxide.

The pH buffering agents suitable for use in accordance with the present disclosure include, but are not limited to citrate/citric acid systems, where the citrate for example may be tri-C12-13 alkyl citrate, tri-C14-15 alkyl citrate, tricaprylyl citrate, triethylhexyl citrate, triisocetyl citrate, trioctyldodecyl citrate, triisostearyl citrate, potassium citrate, aluminum citrate, diammonium citrate, ferric citrate, magnesium citrate, monosodium citrate, zinc citrate, and other pH buffering agents known to the person skilled in the art. Antioxidants suitable for use in the accordance with the present disclosure include, but are not limited to BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene), BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole), tocopherols (Vitamin E derivatives), such as tocopheryl acetate, propyl gallate, and other is an example of a water soluble antioxidant.

Fragrances suitable for use in the accordance with the present disclosure include e.g. perfumes, eteric oils and plant extracts.

The liquid composition in accordance with the present disclosure may be essentially or completely free from chlorohexidine.

Preferably the liquid composition of the present invention has a surface tension of less than about 35 mN/m, more preferably less than about 30 mN/m, and even more preferably less than about 28 mN/m.

The pH of the liquid composition may be from about pH 3 to about pH 9, preferably from about pH 4 to about pH 7.5, more preferably from about pH 5 to about pH 7

The various ingredients of a skin cleansing liquid composition in accordance with the present disclosure can be combined in many ways with the different ingredients in different compositions, as will be appreciated by the person skilled in the art. Exemplary skin cleansing compositions are e.g. mentioned in US2005/0008680; US2006/0171971 , US6440437. For the purposes of the present disclosure, 1 ,5-pentanediol should be added to these compositions.

The wipe according to the present disclosure may be produced in any conventional way, by providing a web substrate and contacting it to the liquid composition, for example by means of dipping, spraying, kiss rolling, as well as any other way known to the person skilled in the art. Non- limiting methods for their application are described in EP 1 333 868 and the references cited therein.

A plurality of wipes in accordance with the present disclosure may be contained in a container, such as a box, a bag, a bucket or other container suitable for housing a plurality of wipes. In the container, the plurality of wipes may be in the form of separate wipes, or may be joined together by separable bonds, such as perforations.

The wipes in accordance with the present disclosure may be used as a means for depositing 1 ,5- pentanediol to skin, or as a means to contact skin with 1 ,5-pentanediol, for example with the purpose of strengthening the skin barrier. The wipes in accordance with the present disclosure may be adapted for and/or used to clean the skin of a human.