Eutrophication is the process of excessive fertilization of aquatic plants through enrichment of waters with nutrients, such as carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, iron, trace metals and vitamins.
Although there is no present adequate proof, it has been postulated that the phosphorus-containing builders present in detergent compositions can be a factor in eutrophication. Therefore any substitutes which do not contain phosphorus may decrease to some extent the eutrophication.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide novel compounds which are useful as detergent builders. It is another object of the present invention to provide novel compounds which function as surface active agents and as detergent builders. It is still another object of the present invention to provide detergent compositions which are free of phosphorus-containing builders such as the alkali metal condensed phosphates.