Abstract: A liquid fluorescent whitening agent formulation comprising: a) a compound of formula (1), in which R1 represents hydrogen, 1-5 C-alkyl, 1-5 C-alkoxy or halogen, M represents hydrogen, an alkaline- or alkaline earth-metal, or ammonium; b) a polyhydroxy compound; c) 5 to 95% water, whereby the ratio of the compound of Formula (1) to the polyhydroxy compound is between 10:90 and 90:10 parts by weight and the total weight of these compounds in the formulation is between 5 and 95% and, optionally, auxiliary stabilizing agents and the use thereof for the manufacture of detergents with improved shade consistency.

Abstract: Described is the use of a laundry detergent that includes at least one optical brightener from the class of the stilbene compounds for the antimicrobial finishing of textile fiber materials, which comprises washing the fiber materials with this laundry detergent and subsequently exposing the washed textile material to a light source.