Naturell - detergents

Detergents

The chemistry behind detergents can be complex and hard for many people to understand, so this is a very basic and perhaps over simplified explanation. for a more in depth understanding Wikipedia is a good place to look.

The component in detergent that acts as wetting agent, emulsifier, foaming agent, and dispersant is called a surfactant. It's job is to penetrate the surface being cleaned and release the dirt from whatever it may be attached to. After releasing the dirt it must keep the dirt suspended in water and prevent it from reattaching to anything else. In order to accomplish this it must be water soluble and insoluble at the same time.

If you were to put some oil into a bowl of water you would see that it forms beads and floats on top. Oil is insoluble in water but it may surprise you to learn that oil is in fact the main ingredient in detergent. By adding hydrogen to the oil it becomes water soluble and insoluble at the same time. This is done using lye, also known as sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide.

Because detergent is primarily made of oil, it has some of the same characteristics as oil. For instance if you put oil on your hand, dirt will stick to it and it doesn't rinse off easily. This is also true of detergent except that it will rinse off more easily than oil.

Detergents are made of surfactants, and the surfactants used in virtually all detergents are synthetic (man made). There is a wide array of different surfactants, here is a list of surfactants and related chemistry used in detergents:

Anionic surfactants

Alkyl benzene sulphonates

Olefin sulphonates

Paraffin sulphonates

Sulphonated methyl esters

Sulphonated fatty acids

Sulphosuccinates

Alkyl sulfates

Alkyl ether sulfates

lauryl sulfates

Phosphate asters

Carboxylates