An anionic surfactant is a macromolecule, usually in the sulfonate or sulfate group of chemicals such as sodium laureth sulfate, that acts as an active surface agent to lower the surface tension of liquids. This allows them to bind to impurities and particles that are suspended in the liquid, which makes them effective cleaning agents in water. In small concentrations, they can also cause the foaming of compounds in water by creating large numbers of small bubbles of gas, and this makes them effective in cosmetics such as shampoo, toothpaste, and in fire-suppressing agents.
For more information, please visit Sancolo.
Basic soap used to clean the human body is also a type of surfactant or detergent made from natural fatty acids of plant or animal origin. The difference with an anionic surfactant is that it is largely a synthetic chemical, and it has been designed to act not only as a surfactant that binds to oils and particulates in water, but also as a denaturing chemical for proteins. Since anionic surfactants break down proteins attached to clothing in water, they are not recommended for ordinary soap use, as human skin is also a type of protein.
Chemical engineering has been perfecting anionic surfactant synthetic detergents since the late s when they began to replace ordinary soap for washing machine use. The negative electrical charge of their ionic nature makes them bind to dissolved minerals in hard water. Ordinary soap will leave an insoluble, gray-colored film on materials that are washed in hard water. Early surfactant detergents were based on alkylate compounds, and the drawback to their use was that they are carried out to natural waterways in the waste water systems of cities where their foaming ability prevents breakdown by natural microorganisms. These compounds were made illegal by in most nations, and a switch to related alkylbenzene sulfonate (LAS) chemicals alleviated some of the issues with water pollution.
LAS surfactants now have a wide variety of uses. They are key to the emulsion polymerization of several plastics, such as polystyrene, are used in protecting agricultural seed from mold and fungi, and are included in a wide variety of emulsified paints. Industrial cleaning supplies are also dependent on LAS compounds, and about 50% of all LAS production goes toward household detergent products.
Nonionic surfactants are less harsh than their counterparts and have some similarities to ordinary soap, making them suitable for widespread use in hand dishwashing liquids and other household cleaners where contact with human skin is frequent. They are most effective at breaking up grease residue produced in cooking. This is because they are related to grease molecules, and are derived from fatty alcohols manufactured from ethylene, paraffin, and so on. The compounds have both petroleum-based and natural sources. About 5% of all of the petroleum production worldwide as of went to the manufacture of fatty alcohol nonionic surfactants, accounting for 212,000,000 metric tons of the compound produced globally.
Special types of anionic surfactant compounds known as biosurfactants are also used in oil spill remediation. They are derived from natural compounds and have oleophilic molecular ends for oil cleanup and hydrophilic ends for binding to water molecules. Like a typical anionic surfactant, they reduce surface tension in the water to break large oil droplets down into smaller ones that can then disperse and biodegrade naturally. Biosurfactants allow oil cleaning operations to channel polluted water directly to waste water treatment plants, or they break the oil slick down enough that natural bacteria in the water can then further degrade the dispersed oil droplets.
Independent Chemical Corporation offers a wide range of surfactants for a variety of applications. Surfactants, or surface-active agents, are a primary component of cleaning detergents and are found in many of the products we use in our daily lives.
Surfactants act to reduce tension at the surface or interface between two different phases or substances. By stirring up activity on the surface, they help to trap dirt and remove it. They are able to act in this way because they contain both a hydrophilic (water loving) group, such as an acid anion, and a hydrophobic (water hating) group, such as an alkyl chain. Molecules of water tend to congregate near the former and molecules of the water-insoluble material congregate near the latter. Surfactants can also act as a medium between oil and water, making them ideal as detergents, dispersants, emulsifiers, and biocides.
When there is a sufficient concentration of surfactant molecules in a solution, these molecules combine together to form structures called micelles. As micelles form, the surfactant heads position themselves so that they are exposed to water, while the tails are positioned in the center of the structure where they are protected from water. The micelles work as a unit to remove soils and debris. The hydrophobic tails are attracted to soils and surround them, while the hydrophilic heads pull the now surrounded soils off of the surface and into the solution. The micelles then reform with the tails suspending the soil in the center of the structure.
The hydrophilic head of each surfactant is electrically charged. The charge can be negative, positive, or neutral, and based on the charge a surfactant can be anionic, nonionic, cationic, or amphoteric. These four categories are summarized as follows:
Anionic surfactants are frequently used in soaps and detergents because they are able to attack a broad range of soils. They create a lot of foam when mixed, and are excellent at lifting and suspending particulate soils, but are not as good at emulsifying oily soils. Sulfates, sulfonates, and gluconates are all examples of anionic surfactants.
Nonionic surfactants are very good at emulsifying oils and are better than anionic surfactants at removing organic soils. Nonionic and anionic surfactants are sometimes used together in order to create dual-action multipurpose cleaners. Certain nonionic surfactants are non-foaming or low-foaming, making them a good choice for low-foaming detergents. Ethoxylates, alkoxylates, and coamides are examples of nonionic surfactants.
Cationic surfactants are useful in anti-static products such as fabric softeners, and can also serve as antimicrobial agents in disinfectants. They are not compatible with anionic surfactants since mixing positively charged with negatively charged surfactants will cause them to fall out of solution and no longer be effective. Cationic and nonionic surfactants are compatible. Alkyl ammonium chlorides are anionic surfactants.
Amphoteric surfactants' dual charges cancel each other out creating a net zero charge, referred to as zwitterionic. In acidic solutions, amphoteric surfactants become positively charged and behave similarly to cationic surfactants, while in alkaline solutions they become negatively charged and behave similarly to anionic surfactants. Amphoteric surfactants are often used in shampoos and cosmetics. Betaines and amino oxides are examples of amphoteric surfactants.
Independent Chemical is proud to offer an ever expanding range of products for customers that include the world's most sought after consumer and industrial brand names, in such product areas as nutrition, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, environmental services, and more. Contact us today to request a quote or to place an order.
The anionic surfactant can undergo dissociation when being dissolved in water with the part of surface activity exhibiting hydrophobic anion effects. Typical anionic surfactants include soaps, alkylbenzene sulfonates, alkyl sulfonates, alkyl sulfonates, alkyl sulfates, salts of fluorinated fatty acids, silicones, fatty alcohol sulfates, polyoxyethylene fatty alcohol ether sulfates, α-olefin sulfonate, polyoxyethylene fatty alcohol phosphates ether, alkyl alcohol amide, alkyl sulfonic acid acetamide, alkyl succinate sulfonate salts, amino alcohol alkylbenzene sulfonates, naphthenates, alkylphenol sulfonate and polyoxyethylene monolaurate. Anionic surfactants are generally insoluble at low temperatures. If the concentration continued to increase, they will reach a threshold limit, then precipitating out active agent of hydration. Upon increased water temperature at a certain temperature, due to the dissolving of the micelles, leaving the solubility being rapid increased with this temperature point called as catastrophe point. This feature is hold by ionic surfactants.
There are limited numbers of hydrophilic groups in the anionic type surfactant, but there are many types of hydrophobic groups. The raw materials of important hydrophilic group include carboxylic acid, sulfonic acid ester, sulfonic acid, phosphoric acid esters; the raw materials of hydrophobic group include animal and vegetable greases and their hydrolysis products, such as fatty acids, higher alcohols and the synthesized alcohols as petrochemical raw materials, alkanes benzene, α- olefins, etc., animal and vegetable oils include coconut oil, castor oil, cottonseed oil, palm oil, sperm whale oil, beef tallow and fish oil, etc. Furthermore, the rosin acid, naphthenic acid of the natural processed products have also been frequently used. Anionic surfactants also have excellent penetration, wetting, emulsification, dispersion, solubilization, foaming, decontamination, anti-static and smoothing properties.
Anionic surfactants have the largest yield in different categories of surfactants and can't be mixed together with cationic surfactants for application due to precipitated in the aqueous solution to become ineffective. It can be used in combination with nonionic and amphoteric surfactants. It is commonly used as detergents, wetting agents, emulsifiers and dispersing agents. It is widely used in industry. In daily chemical industry, it is used in various kinds of detergent; in the field of cosmetics, it is used as the foaming agents of shampoos, bath, various kinds of creams, toothpaste, dispersing and emulsifying agents; in the field of food, it can be used as an emulsifier, defoamers, dispersants, preservatives, solubilizers, thickening agents and protein stabilizing agents and so on; it can also be used as feed emulsifier, dispersant, stabilizer; in the field of medicine, it can be used as emulsifiers, thickeners, preservatives, antioxidants and so on;
For more information, please visit Examples of Anionic Surfactants.
in the textile industry, it can be used as oiling agent, dyeing auxiliaries, bleaching agents, soft processing agent; in the field of pesticides, it can be used as spraying agents, emulsifying agents and dispersants; it can be used as asphalt emulsifier in highway and urban road construction such as tall oil sulfonate; in the field of civil engineering, it can be used as the water reducing agent of cement; in the development of oil field, it can be used as emulsifier, oil displacement agent, lubricant, sand consolidation agent, blocking agent, demulsifier, corrosion inhibitor, reducing agent, fluid loss agent and son on; it can be used as an emulsifier and fuel additive in the petroleum products; in the polymer industry, it can used as an emulsifier and antistatic agents during the emulsion and polymerization, antistatic agents; metal cleaning agent; mining flotation agent; water treatment agent; the brighteners, dispersants, pitting inhibitor in the plating solution and may be added to copper plating bath and nickel plating solution; it also has applications in other fields such as paint, ink, transportation, ship-breaking and other industries.
The term surfactant refers to surfactants. This means that surfactants can reduce the surface tension between two substances. Surfactants are substances that reduce the surface tension of liquids, making them useful in various applications such as cleaning, emulsification, and foaming. Anionic, cationic, and nonionic surfactants are the three main types of surfactants based on their ionic charge. Anionic surfactants have a negative charge, cationic surfactants have a positive charge, and nonionic surfactants have no charge. These different types of surfactants have distinct properties, behaviors, and applications, which make them suitable for specific uses. For example, anionic surfactants are commonly used in household cleaning products, cationic surfactants are used in hair conditioners, and nonionic surfactants are used in emulsions and food products.
Anionic surfactants are surfactants that have a negative charge. They are characterized by a polar head group and a hydrophobic tail. Some common examples of anionic surfactants include sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS), and sodium alkyl ether sulfate (SAES). Anionic surfactants are highly soluble in water and are often used in household cleaning products such as detergents, soaps, and shampoos due to their cleaning properties. They are effective at removing grease and oil and have good foaming properties.
Anionic surfactants are commonly used in cleaning products, such as laundry detergents, because of their ability to emulsify oil and grease.
Some common types of anionic surfactants include:
Cationic surfactants are surfactants that have a positive charge. They are characterized by a polar head group with a positive charge and a hydrophobic tail. Some common examples of cationic surfactants include cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), benzalkonium chloride (BAC), and dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid. Most of these surfactants can destroy the cell membranes of bacteria and viruses, so they are useful as antibacterial agents, antifungal agents, etc. The most common functional group found in these molecules is the ammonium ion
Cationic surfactants are used in fabric softeners, hair conditioners, and in certain sanitizers and disinfectants due to their positive charge, which makes them attracted to negatively charged surfaces such as hair and skin.
Some common types of cationic surfactants include:
Nonionic surfactants are a type of surface-active agents that do not carry an electrical charge. They are made by adding a hydrophobic (water-repellent) group to a hydrophilic (water-soluble) group. Unlike ionic surfactants, nonionic surfactants do not react with ions in solution and do not ionize in water. In addition, they have covalently bound oxygen-containing hydrophilic groups. These hydrophilic groups associate with the hydrophobic backbone when detergent is added to the sample. The oxygen atoms in these compounds can affect the hydrogen bonding of surfactant molecules.
Nonionic Surfactants are used in Personal care products, such as creams, lotions, and makeup, in Food processing as emulsifiers and dispersants, in Pesticides and herbicides, Industrial and household cleaning products, and in
Pharmaceuticals and drug delivery systems.
Some common types of nonionic surfactants include:
There are three main types of surfactants: anionic surfactants, cationic surfactants, and nonionic surfactants. The main difference between anionic cationic and nonionic surfactants is that anionic surfactants contain negatively charged functional groups while cationic surfactants have positively charged functional groups. contain, whereas nonionic surfactants have no net charge.
Examples of anionic surfactants include compounds containing sulfonates, phosphates, sulfates, and carboxylates. Cationic surfactants primarily contain ammonium cations.
In conclusion, anionic, cationic, and nonionic surfactants are all types of surfactants that differ in their charge properties. Anionic surfactants have a negative charge and are commonly used for cleaning applications due to their strong cleansing properties. Cationic surfactants have a positive charge and are used in hair care products for their conditioning properties and ability to control bacteria. Nonionic surfactants have no charge and are known for their mildness and compatibility with a wide range of ingredients. Each type of surfactant has its own advantages and limitations, making them suitable for different applications based on their specific properties.
Login
to comment...
If you want to learn more, please visit our website Calcium Pheny Sulphonate 70 %.