Detergents. You may remember the saponoification of oil !

When palm oil is reacted with Strong Caustic soda solution, it yielded sodium salt of palmitic acid ( Sodium Palmitate) which is a detergent, which we also called soap. Or in other words, we can name Soap as one example of detergents. Water, which is the medium commonly used for cleaning, has a property called surface tension. In the body of the water, each molecule is surrounded and attracted by other water molecules. However, at the surface, those molecules are surrounded by other water molecules only on the water side. A tension is created as the water molecules at the surface are pulled into the body of the water. This tension causes water to bead up on surfaces (glass, fabric), which slows wetting of the surface and inhibits the cleaning process. You can see surface tension at work by placing a drop of water onto a counter top. The drop will hold its shape and will not spread. In the cleaning process, surface tension must be reduced so water can spread and wet surfaces. Detergents in solutions, adhere to the surface and lower the Surface free energy ( Gibbs Energy). Hence these chemicals are called surface active agents or Surfactants. Surfactants perform other important functions in cleaning, such as loosening, emulsifying (dispersing in water) and holding soil in suspension until it can be rinsed away. Surfactants can also provide alkalinity, which is useful in removing acidic soils. Depending on the higher performance on a specific property of a detergent, which is due to the chemical nature of the detergent, they are named as Wetting agents, washing agents, dispersing agents, Emulsifying agents, Leveling agents and even as Fixing agents. Soap is an anionic surfactant. Other anionic as well as nonionic surfactants are the main ingredients in today's detergents. Now let's look closer at the chemistry of surfactants.

We can represent a Detergent molecule diagrammatically as shown above. It has at least one each Hydrophylic end And Hydrophobic parts. Hydrophobic part is also Lypophylic And Hydrophylic part is Lypophobic

In order to keep the water repllent end away from water in an aqueous phase ,Detergent molecules rearranges in to different shapes called ( micelle )

Surfactants are classified by their ionic (electrical charge) properties in water: anionic (negative charge), nonionic (no charge), cationic (positive charge) and amphoteric (either positive or negative charge). End group of Hydrophylic part and short hydrophobic end gives good wetting agents. They are not good washing agents. WHEN THE HYPROPHOBIC PART IS LONG, THEY BECOME GOOD WASHING AGENTS. When tow long hydrophobic ends are having a hydriphylic part at the middle, they become good washing agents with good wetting and foaming properties

Classification according to ionic character.

Examples of Anionic Detergents: 1. Fatty acid salts 2. Akyl Sulphonates, Alkyl Aryl Sulphonate.
O S H3C O O

R-CO.O- -Na+. R - SO3- Na+,

Na

Examples for non ionic detergents: 1. Poly ethylene and poly propylenes oxides, 2. Poly amines. Examples for Cationic detergents: 1. Quaternary amonimum compounds, Quaternary Phosphonium compounds Examples for Amphoteric detergents: 1. Aminino acids ( Like Albumin)