Thomas H. Vaughn

Nonionic surfactants derived from a new hydrophobic base

SummaryA versatile new class of nonionic surfactants has been prepared essentially from ethylene and propylene oxides. The new products are based upon the discovery that a polyoxypropylene glycol having a molecular weight of approximately 900 or higher will function as the hydrophobic unit of a nonionic surfactant which may presumably be represented as HO (C2H4O)a (C3H6O)b (CH2O4)cH. By selection of a polyoxypropylene glycol having a suitable molecular weight and by adjusting the weight ratio of oxypropylene to oxyethylene units in the product, nonionics have been prepared which range in physical form from liquids to solids which are sufficiently hard that they may be flaked.The possibility of wide variation in the molecular weight of the hydrophobic unit and in the weight ratio of the hydrophobic to hydrophilic units in the molecules allows extensive tailoring of the products to give specific control of properties such as solubility in water, detergency, wetting action, and surface tension lowering.

Detergency and foaming properties of the system alkylarylsulfonate-soap-sodium carboxymethyl cellulose

SummaryA study has been made of the detergency and foaming characteristics of a ternary system comprising a sodium alkylarylsulfonate, a medium titer soap derived from tallow and coconut oil, and sodium carboxymethyl cellulose under average conditions prevailing in household laundering.The carbon soil removal and whiteness retention properties of unbuilt soap are equalled or exceeded in compositions containing approximately five parts soap to one part alkylarylsulfonate, with a minor portion of CMC.Measurements made in a transparent cylindrical washer indicate that the decrease of foam height due to adsorption on fabric and hard water is much greater with soap than with alkylarylsulfonate. This results in greater foam volumes with alkylarylsulfonate than with soap at concentrations less than 0.2%, in water of hardness equivalent to 96–114 ppm. CaCO3.Sodium carboxymethyl cellulose, when used with soap and alkylarylsulfonate in the proportions desirable for improvement of detergency, does not affect foaming properties significantly.When soap is the major ingredient in mixtures of soap and alkylarylsulfonate, foam height is critically dependent on concentration. When alkylarylsulfonate predominates, high foam levels are obtainable at low concentrations.The data reported permits selection of compositions from the ternary system for formulation with builders such that excellent detergency characteristics may be obtained under average conditions prevailing in household service, with high foaming characteristics as desired for agitator-type machines, or with moderate, controllable foaming for cylinder machines.