Zwitterionic polyetherpolyamines and process for their production

A zwitterionic polyetherpolyamine comprising a linear or branched polyetherpolyamine backbone having 2 to 10 tertiary amino nitrogen atoms and a molecular weight of from 100 to 800, at least one tertiary amine end group of the polyetherpolyamine backbone contains two groups having the formulawhereinA means an ethylene oxide unit, a propylene oxide unit, a unit of butylene oxides and a tetrahydrofuran unit,n is a number of from 1 to 50, X is an anionic group, with the proviso that in formula II one X may also be hydrogen andM is hydrogen, alkali metal or ammonium,or contains one group of formula I or II and one group selected from radicals consisting ofC1- to C22-alkyl and C7- to c22-aralkyl, the meaning of A and n is the same as in formula I or II,said zwitterionic polyetherpolyamine having a molecular weight up to 9,000 and optionally containing up to 100% of the nitrogen atoms quaternized, and a process for the production of zwitterionic polyetherpolyamines by alkoxylating the said polyetherpolyamine backbone, sulfating the alkoxylated polyetherpolyamine and optionally quaternizing the alkoxylated polyetherpolyamine before or after sulfation. The products obtained are used as additives in detergents.