Abstract: Zwitterionic surfactant compounds are made readily biodegradable in the environment by the inclusion of a biochemically and/or hydrolytically labile chemical linkage located between the cationic and anionic charge centers of the compounds and anywhere from the second to the tenth atom distant from the cationic charge center. The biodegradable linkage is preferably an ester or amide. The alkoxylated zwitterionic surfactants herein exhibit outstanding particulate soil removal performance and are also effective in removing oily soils from fabrics, in addition to being readily biodegradable. Also described are detergent compositions containing the zwitterionic surfactants, and, optionally containing cosurfactants and detergent builders.

Abstract: Compounds of the formula ##STR1## wherein R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 are each straight chain, branched chain or cyclic alkyl, alkenyl, aryl, aralkyl or alkaryl moieties having from 1-30 carbon atoms; R.sub.3 is a C.sub.2 -C.sub.8 alkylene, alkenylene, arylene or alkarylene moiety; R.sub.4 is a C.sub.1 -C.sub.8 alkylene, alkenylene, arylene or alkarylene moiety; A is a water-solubilizing anionic moiety; and n is from 1 to about 100 are useful as surfactants. Compounds wherein groups R.sub.1, R.sub.2 and R.sub.3 and integer n are selectively chosen provide good clay soil detergency performance even in the absence of builders. The compounds are usefully combined with other organic surfactants to provide detergent compositions having good clay and oily soil removal performance.