Yes. OxiClean is an oxygen bleach. Oxygen bleaches tend to be more gentle than chlorine bleaches, so colors are not degraded, yet many stains can be whitened. The active ingredient is sodium percarbonate. Washing soda (Na2CO3.10H2O) can be dried to soda ash (Na2CO3) and treated with H2O2 to give 2Na2CO3.3H2O2 (sodium per carbonate). It is quite stable when dry; when dissolved, the solution is like an alkaline solution of H2O2. It also contains some Na2CO3.10H2O and surfactants, but I have read that the grease-cutting power is not so great. But you can add more surfactant.
Yes. OxiClean is an oxygen bleach. Oxygen bleaches tend to be more gentle than chlorine bleaches, so colors are not degraded, yet many stains can be whitened. The active ingredient is sodium percarbonate. Washing soda (Na2CO3.10H2O) can be dried to soda ash (Na2CO3) and treated with H2O2 to give 2Na2CO3.3H2O2 (sodium per carbonate). It is quite stable when dry; when dissolved, the solution is like an alkaline solution of H2O2. It also contains some Na2CO3.10H2O and surfactants, but I have read that the grease-cutting power is not so great. But you can add more surfactant.
Oxiclean is essentially hydrogen peroxide. It bleaches stains in the same way that peroxide does -- when you dissolve the Oxiclean crystals (sodium percarbonate) in water you make a solution of sodium carbonate (washing soda) and hydrogen peroxide. I don't think you're really looking for a long description of the chemistry of oxygen bleaching, so I'll leave it at that.
Regarding phosphates, I read the ingredient disclosures for all of the Oxiclean products (listed here) and found no evidence for the presence of phosphates. The simplest Oxiclean product (Baby Stain Soaker) contains nothing but sodium carbonate and sodium percarbonate. Most of the others contain a mixture of ingredients common in laundry products: detergents, enzymes, optical brighteners, fragrances, etc. No phosphates, though. (I will note that Max Force Liqui-Gel lists a "proprietary" builder; builder is the role that phosphates play in laundry products, so it's conceivable that Max Force Liqui-Gel might contain phosphates. However, none of the other products have this type of ambiguity in their ingredient lists.)
As mentioned above, Oxiclean (sodium percarbonate) is a bleaching agent. It removes the color from stains by altering the structure of colored molecules such that they are no longer colored. I wouldn't expect sodium percarbonate to have much of an effect on protein stains.
Instead, protein stains are generally removed by a combination of enzymes and detergents (I hope someone who has more expertise in laundry detergents will correct any mistakes I make here). Enzymes are themselves proteins, but they are proteins that are chosen and/or engineered to be active in the rather unnatural conditions of your washing machine. The enzymes basically chop the stain proteins up into smaller pieces that can then be more easily removed by the detergents in the product. The detergents themselves work by increasing the solubility of hydrophobic materials (literally "water-fearing", e.g. grease/oil) in water so that they can be flushed away in the rinse cycle.
Oxiclean is essentially hydrogen peroxide. It bleaches stains in the same way that peroxide does -- when you dissolve the Oxiclean crystals (sodium percarbonate) in water you make a solution of sodium carbonate (washing soda) and hydrogen peroxide. I don't think you're really looking for a long description of the chemistry of oxygen bleaching, so I'll leave it at that.
Regarding phosphates, I read the ingredient disclosures for all of the Oxiclean products (listed here) and found no evidence for the presence of phosphates. The simplest Oxiclean product (Baby Stain Soaker) contains nothing but sodium carbonate and sodium percarbonate. Most of the others contain a mixture of ingredients common in laundry products: detergents, enzymes, optical brighteners, fragrances, etc. No phosphates, though. (I will note that Max Force Liqui-Gel lists a "proprietary" builder; builder is the role that phosphates play in laundry products, so it's conceivable that Max Force Liqui-Gel might contain phosphates. However, none of the other products have this type of ambiguity in their ingredient lists.)
As mentioned above, Oxiclean (sodium percarbonate) is a bleaching agent. It removes the color from stains by altering the structure of colored molecules such that they are no longer colored. I wouldn't expect sodium percarbonate to have much of an effect on protein stains.
Instead, protein stains are generally removed by a combination of enzymes and detergents (I hope someone who has more expertise in laundry detergents will correct any mistakes I make here). Enzymes are themselves proteins, but they are proteins that are chosen and/or engineered to be active in the rather unnatural conditions of your washing machine. The enzymes basically chop the stain proteins up into smaller pieces that can then be more easily removed by the detergents in the product. The detergents themselves work by increasing the solubility of hydrophobic materials (literally "water-fearing", e.g. grease/oil) in water so that they can be flushed away in the rinse cycle.
Yes. OxiClean is an oxygen bleach. Oxygen bleaches tend to be more gentle than chlorine bleaches, so colors are not degraded, yet many stains can be whitened. The active ingredient is sodium percarbonate. Washing soda (Na2CO3.10H2O) can be dried to soda ash (Na2CO3) and treated with H2O2 to give 2Na2CO3.3H2O2 (sodium per carbonate). It is quite stable when dry; when dissolved, the solution is like an alkaline solution of H2O2. It also contains some Na2CO3.10H2O and surfactants, but I have read that the grease-cutting power is not so great. But you can add more surfactant.
Yes. OxiClean is an oxygen bleach. Oxygen bleaches tend to be more gentle than chlorine bleaches, so colors are not degraded, yet many stains can be whitened. The active ingredient is sodium percarbonate. Washing soda (Na2CO3.10H2O) can be dried to soda ash (Na2CO3) and treated with H2O2 to give 2Na2CO3.3H2O2 (sodium per carbonate). It is quite stable when dry; when dissolved, the solution is like an alkaline solution of H2O2. It also contains some Na2CO3.10H2O and surfactants, but I have read that the grease-cutting power is not so great. But you can add more surfactant.
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Oxiclean is essentially hydrogen peroxide. It bleaches stains in the same way that peroxide does -- when you dissolve the Oxiclean crystals (sodium percarbonate) in water you make a solution of sodium carbonate (washing soda) and hydrogen peroxide. I don't think you're really looking for a long description of the chemistry of oxygen bleaching, so I'll leave it at that.
Regarding phosphates, I read the ingredient disclosures for all of the Oxiclean products (listed here) and found no evidence for the presence of phosphates. The simplest Oxiclean product (Baby Stain Soaker) contains nothing but sodium carbonate and sodium percarbonate. Most of the others contain a mixture of ingredients common in laundry products: detergents, enzymes, optical brighteners, fragrances, etc. No phosphates, though. (I will note that Max Force Liqui-Gel lists a "proprietary" builder; builder is the role that phosphates play in laundry products, so it's conceivable that Max Force Liqui-Gel might contain phosphates. However, none of the other products have this type of ambiguity in their ingredient lists.)
As mentioned above, Oxiclean (sodium percarbonate) is a bleaching agent. It removes the color from stains by altering the structure of colored molecules such that they are no longer colored. I wouldn't expect sodium percarbonate to have much of an effect on protein stains.
Instead, protein stains are generally removed by a combination of enzymes and detergents (I hope someone who has more expertise in laundry detergents will correct any mistakes I make here). Enzymes are themselves proteins, but they are proteins that are chosen and/or engineered to be active in the rather unnatural conditions of your washing machine. The enzymes basically chop the stain proteins up into smaller pieces that can then be more easily removed by the detergents in the product. The detergents themselves work by increasing the solubility of hydrophobic materials (literally "water-fearing", e.g. grease/oil) in water so that they can be flushed away in the rinse cycle.
Oxiclean is essentially hydrogen peroxide. It bleaches stains in the same way that peroxide does -- when you dissolve the Oxiclean crystals (sodium percarbonate) in water you make a solution of sodium carbonate (washing soda) and hydrogen peroxide. I don't think you're really looking for a long description of the chemistry of oxygen bleaching, so I'll leave it at that.
Regarding phosphates, I read the ingredient disclosures for all of the Oxiclean products (listed here) and found no evidence for the presence of phosphates. The simplest Oxiclean product (Baby Stain Soaker) contains nothing but sodium carbonate and sodium percarbonate. Most of the others contain a mixture of ingredients common in laundry products: detergents, enzymes, optical brighteners, fragrances, etc. No phosphates, though. (I will note that Max Force Liqui-Gel lists a "proprietary" builder; builder is the role that phosphates play in laundry products, so it's conceivable that Max Force Liqui-Gel might contain phosphates. However, none of the other products have this type of ambiguity in their ingredient lists.)
As mentioned above, Oxiclean (sodium percarbonate) is a bleaching agent. It removes the color from stains by altering the structure of colored molecules such that they are no longer colored. I wouldn't expect sodium percarbonate to have much of an effect on protein stains.
Instead, protein stains are generally removed by a combination of enzymes and detergents (I hope someone who has more expertise in laundry detergents will correct any mistakes I make here). Enzymes are themselves proteins, but they are proteins that are chosen and/or engineered to be active in the rather unnatural conditions of your washing machine. The enzymes basically chop the stain proteins up into smaller pieces that can then be more easily removed by the detergents in the product. The detergents themselves work by increasing the solubility of hydrophobic materials (literally "water-fearing", e.g. grease/oil) in water so that they can be flushed away in the rinse cycle.
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