Surfactants are wetting agents that lower the surface tension of a liquid, allowing easier

spreading, and lower the interfacial tension between two liquids.

Contents
[hide]

 1 Etymology
 2 Properties
 3 Applications and sources
 4 Classification
 5 Health and environmental controversy
 6 See also
 7 Notes
 8 External links

[edit] Etymology Surfactant

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The term surfactant is a blend of surface active agent.[1] Surfactants are usually organic
compounds that are amphiphilic, meaning they contain both hydrophobic groups (their
"tails") and hydrophilic groups (their "heads"). Therefore, they are soluble in both organic
solvents and water. The term surfactant was coined by Antara products in 1950.

In Index Medicus and the United States National Library of Medicine, "surfactant" is
reserved for the meaning pulmonary surfactant. For the more general meaning, "surface
active agent" is the heading.

[edit] Properties
A micelle—the lipophilic tails of the surfactant molecules remain on the inside of the micelle
due to unfavourable interactions. The polar "heads" of the micelle, due to favourable
interactions with water, form a hydrophilic outer layer that in effect protects the hydrophobic
core of the micelle. The compounds that make up a micelle are typically amphiphilic in
nature, meaning that not only are micelles soluble in protic solvents such as water but also in
aprotic solvents as a reverse micelle

Surfactants reduce the surface tension of water by adsorbing at the liquid-gas interface. They
also reduce the interfacial tension between oil and water by adsorbing at the liquid-liquid
interface. Many surfactants can also assemble in the bulk solution into aggregates. Examples
of such aggregates are vesicles and micelles. The concentration at which surfactants begin to
form micelles is known as the critical micelle concentration or CMC. When micelles form in
water, their tails form a core that can encapsulate an oil droplet, and their (ionic/polar) heads
form an outer shell that maintains favorable contact with water. When surfactants assemble in
oil, the aggregate is referred to as a reverse micelle. In a reverse micelle, the heads are in the
core and the tails maintain favorable contact with oil. Surfactants are also often classified into
four primary groups; anionic, cationic, non-ionic, and zwitterionic (dual charge).

Thermodynamics of the surfactant systems are of great importance, theoretically and

practically [2]. This is because surfactant systems represent systems between ordered and
disordered states of matter. Surfactant solutions may contain an ordered phase (micelles) and
a disordered phase (free surfactant molecules and/or ions in the solution).

Ordinary washing up (dishwashing) detergent, for example, will promote water penetration in
soil, but the effect would only last a few days (many standard laundry detergent powders
contain levels of chemicals such as alkali and chelating agents, which can be damaging to
plants and should not be applied to soils). Commercial soil wetting agents will continue to
work for a considerable period, but they will eventually be degraded by soil micro-organisms.
Some can, however, interfere with the life-cycles of some aquatic organisms, so care should
be taken to prevent run-off of these products into streams, and excess product should not be
washed down.

[edit] Applications and sources

Surfactants play an important role in many practical applications and products, including:
  Detergents
 Fabric softener
 Emulsifiers and Emulsions
 Paints
 Adhesives
 Inks
 Anti-fogging
 Soil remediation
 Dispersants
 Wetting
 Ski wax, snowboard wax
 Deinking of recycled paper, both in flotation, washing and enzymatic processes
 Foaming agents
 Defoamers
 Laxatives
 Agrochemical formulations
o Herbicides some
o Insecticides
 Quantum dot coating
 Biocides (sanitizers)
 Shampoo
 Hair conditioners (after shampoo)
 Spermicide (nonoxynol-9)
 Firefighting
 Pipeline, Liquid drag reducing agent
 Alkali Surfactant Polymers (used to mobilize oil in oil wells)
 Ferrofluids
 Leak Detectors

Pulmonary surfactants are also naturally secreted by type II cells of the lung alveoli in
mammals.

[edit] Classification
A surfactant can be classified by the presence of formally charged groups in its head. A non-
ionic surfactant has no charge groups in its head. The head of an ionic surfactant carries a net
charge. If the charge is negative, the surfactant is more specifically called anionic; if the
charge is positive, it is called cationic. If a surfactant contains a head with two oppositely
charged groups, it is termed zwitterionic.

Some commonly encountered surfactants of each type include:

 Ionic
o Anionic (based on sulfate, sulfonate or carboxylate anions)
 Perfluorooctanoate (PFOA or PFO)
 Perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS)
 Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), ammonium lauryl sulfate, and other
alkyl sulfate salts
  Sodium laureth sulfate, also known as sodium lauryl ether sulfate
(SLES)
 Alkyl benzene sulfonate
 Soaps, or fatty acid salts
o Cationic (based on quaternary ammonium cations)
 Cetyl trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) a.k.a. hexadecyl trimethyl
ammonium bromide, and other alkyltrimethylammonium salts
 Cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC)
 Polyethoxylated tallow amine (POEA)
 Benzalkonium chloride (BAC)
 Benzethonium chloride (BZT)
o Zwitterionic (amphoteric)
 Dodecyl betaine
 Cocamidopropyl betaine
 Coco ampho glycinate
 Nonionic
o Alkyl poly(ethylene oxide)
o Alkylphenol poly(ethylene oxide)
o Copolymers of poly(ethylene oxide) and poly(propylene oxide) (commercially
called Poloxamers or Poloxamines)
o Alkyl polyglucosides, including:
 Octyl glucoside
 Decyl maltoside
o Fatty alcohols
 Cetyl alcohol
 Oleyl alcohol
o Cocamide MEA, cocamide DEA
o Polysorbates: Tween 20, Tween 80
 Dodecyl dimethylamine oxide

[edit] Health and environmental controversy

Some surfactants are known to be toxic to animals, ecosystems and humans, and can increase
the diffusion of other environmental contaminants.[3][4][5] Despite this, they are routinely
deposited in numerous ways on land and into water systems, whether as part of an intended
process or as industrial and household waste. Some surfactants have proposed or voluntary
restrictions on their use. For example, PFOS is a persistent organic pollutant as judged by the
Stockholm Convention. Additionally, PFOA has been subject to a voluntary agreement by the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and eight chemical companies to reduce and
eliminate emissions of the chemical and its precursors.[6]

[edit] See also

 Anti-fog
 Cleavable detergent
 Niosomes
 Emulsion
 Pulmonary surfactant
[edit] Notes
1. ^ Rosen MJ (2004). Surfactants and Interfacial Phenomena (3rd ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey:
John Wiley & Sons.[page  needed]
2. ^ Baeurle SA, Kroener J (2004). "Modeling Effective Interactions of Micellar Aggregates of
Ionic Surfactants with the Gauss-Core Potential". J. Math. Chem. 36: 409–421.
doi:10.1023/B:JOMC.0000044526.22457.bb.
3. ^ Metcalfe TL, Dillon PJ, Metcalfe CD (April 2008). "Detecting the transport of toxic
pesticides from golf courses into watersheds in the Precambrian Shield region of Ontario,
Canada". Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 27 (4): 811–8. doi:10.1897/07-216.1.
PMID 18333674.
4. ^ Emmanuel E, Hanna K, Bazin C, Keck G, Clément B, Perrodin Y (April 2005). "Fate of
glutaraldehyde in hospital wastewater and combined effects of glutaraldehyde and surfactants
on aquatic organisms". Environment International 31 (3): 399–406.
doi:10.1016/j.envint.2004.08.011. PMID 15734192.
5. ^ Murphy MG, Al-Khalidi M, Crocker JF, Lee SH, O'Regan P, Acott PD (April 2005). "Two
formulations of the industrial surfactant, Toximul, differentially reduce mouse weight gain
and hepatic glycogen in vivo during early development: effects of exposure to Influenza B
Virus". Chemosphere 59 (2): 235–46. doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2004.11.084. PMID
15722095.
6. ^ USEPA: "2010/15 PFOA Stewardship Program" Accessed October 26, 2008.

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Surfactants

 (English) Surfactants explained for Parents

 Sigma-Aldrich: Surfactants - structures, information, and applications

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surfactant"

Categories: Colloidal chemistry | Cleaning product components | Surfactants
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