Detergents

Synthetic detergents are manufactured products built from either the sodium salt of an alkyl hydrogen sulphate or the sodium salt of a long-chain alkyl benzene sulphonic acid, and they come in three distinct types depending on the charge carried by the cleaning (surfactant) ion. Anionic detergents carry a negatively charged head -- sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS) is the example, a twelve-carbon alkyl chain ending in a sulphate ester group. Cationic detergents instead carry a positively charged head -- n-hexadecyltrimethyl ammonium chloride is the example, a sixteen-carbon alkyl chain ending in a quaternary ammonium group. Non-ionic detergents carry no charge at all -- pentaerythrityl stearate is the example, an ester linking a fatty-acid chain to a polyol bearing free hydroxyl groups. …