Anionic polycarboxylated surfactants as dye-leveling agents used in combination with a stainblocker for fibers

Claim 1

A process for providing dye leveling and stainblocking to fibers which comprises: (a) contacting a polyamide-containing fiber with a dye-leveling effective amount of a dye-leveling agent characterized by the empirical structural formula: ##STR7## wherein R is a hydrocarbon radical having between about 6 and about 18 carbon atoms, wherein x and y are independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, methyl, and succinic acid radicals, with the proviso that at least one x or y moiety per molecule is a succinic acid radical, wherein n has a value of between 1 and 25, and wherein R 1 is hydrogen or a hydrocarbon having between 1 and 8 carbon atoms, to provide a treated fiber, having said dye-leveling agent on the other surface thereof, and (b) contacting said treated fiber with a composition comprising an acid dyeing effective amount of an acid dye selected from the group consisting of azo, anthraquinone, phthalocyanine, nitro, and formazane dyes and a stainblocking effective amount of stainblocker wherein said stain blocker is a sulfonated phenol-formaldehydediphenylsulfone condensate characterized by repeating units of the empirical structural formula: ##STR8## where R 4 is the same or different in each unit and is hydrogen or a radical selected from the group consisting of --SO 3 X, ##STR9## with he proviso that at least 40 percent of the total units contains --SO 3 X radical and at least 40 percent of the total units contain the ##STR10## linkage, wherein X is H or a cation.