OxiClean is an American brand of household cleaners, including OxiClean Versatile Stain Remover, which is a laundry additive, spot stain remover, and household cleaner marketed by

Church & Dwight Church & Dwight Co., Inc. is an American consumer goods company focusing on personal care, household products, and specialty products. The company was founded in 1847 and is headquartered in Ewing, New Jersey. It is the parent company of well-kno ...

. It was formerly owned by Orange Glo International from its introduction in 1997 until it was acquired in 2006.

History

When it was introduced by Orange Glo International in 1997, it was marketed through

infomercial An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of di ...

s with Billy Mays in the US and Canada as a "miracle cleanser" starting in 2000. Church & Dwight acquired the OxiClean brand, along with Orange Glo and several others, through its acquisition of Orange Glo International in 2006; at that point the OxiClean brand expanded into

laundry detergent Laundry detergent is a type of detergent (cleaning agent) used for cleaning dirty laundry (clothes). Laundry detergent is manufactured in powder (washing powder) and liquid form. While powdered and liquid detergents hold roughly equal share of ...

with the introduction of the OxiClean Detergent Ball, followed by OxiClean Liquid Laundry Detergent in 2014. It continued to be endorsed by Mays until his death in 2009; the product is now seen endorsed by Mays' friend and co-worker Anthony Sullivan. Mays and Sullivan were featured on the show '' PitchMen'' on the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...

in which the product was featured on several occasions.

Description

One of the active ingredients in OxiClean is

sodium percarbonate Sodium percarbonate or sodium carbonate peroxide is an inorganic compound with the formula . It is an adduct of sodium carbonate ("soda ash" or "washing soda") and hydrogen peroxide (that is, a perhydrate). It is a colorless, crystalline, hygros ...

(Na₂CO₃•H₂O₂), an

adduct In chemistry, an adduct (; alternatively, a contraction of "addition product") is a product of a direct addition of two or more distinct molecules, resulting in a single reaction product containing all atoms of all components. The resultant is ...

sodium carbonate Sodium carbonate (also known as washing soda, soda ash, sal soda, and soda crystals) is the inorganic compound with the formula and its various hydrates. All forms are white, odourless, water-soluble salts that yield alkaline solutions in water ...

(Na₂CO₃) and

hydrogen peroxide Hydrogen peroxide is a chemical compound with the formula . In its pure form, it is a very pale blue liquid that is slightly more viscosity, viscous than Properties of water, water. It is used as an oxidizer, bleaching agent, and antiseptic, usua ...

(H₂O₂). This breaks down into hydrogen peroxide when dissolved in water. These ingredients break down safely in the environment and leave no toxic byproducts. Related products include OxiClean Laundry Stain Remover, OxiClean MaxForce Spray, OxiClean Power Paks, OxiClean Triple Power Stain Fighter, OxiClean White Revive and OxiClean Baby Stain Soaker. The Clorox Company has a competing product, Clorox 2, which has similar ingredients but also includes the activator TAED (tetraacetylethylenediamine) to convert the peroxide into

peracetic acid Peracetic acid (also known as peroxyacetic acid, or Percidine) is an organic compound with the formula CH3CO3H. This peroxy acid is a colorless liquid with a characteristic acrid odor reminiscent of acetic acid. It can be highly corrosive. Perac ...

(also known as peroxyacetic acid, or PAA). Another competing product, Biz Laundry Booster, has added

enzyme An enzyme () is a protein that acts as a biological catalyst by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrate (chemistry), substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different mol ...

s to break down organic stains and claims to outperform OxiClean in some situations.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oxiclean Cleaning products Church & Dwight brands Infomercials Cleaning product brands