Evaluation of enzymes for laundry products

Currently the two classes of enzymes finding favor as detergent additives are the proteases and amylases. Data are presented showing some of the desirable characteristics such enzymes must possess to be successfully employed as laundry products. Whereas it is easy to determine the activity of the enzymes with test tube assays using homogeneous substrates, translation to a practical method for laboratory evaluation in which apparent laundering ability is correlated with enzyme content has proved to be more difficult. Data are presented showing that, whereas EMPA 116 test fabric (uniformly stained with blood, milk and Japanese ink) is suitable for establishing the effectiveness of detergents containing proteases, the commonly employed EMPA 112 (stained with cocoa, milk and sugar) used for evaluating amylase‐containing products is a poor choice for this purpose. This appears to be because both cocoa and milk contain proteins serving to bind the stains to the cloth. Accordingly, EMPA 112 responds to protease as well as amylase. An experimental test fabric, uniformly stained with starch and lampblack, has been prepared and has proved to respond solely to the amylase present in detergent formulations. Thus, it is now possible to evaluate the effectiveness of the amylase component in laundry products, independent of the influence of other enzyme systems that might also be present.