The Application of Surfactants

Application of Surfactants

1. Cosmetics

Surfactants are widely used in various cosmetic products as emulsifiers, penetrants, cleansers, softeners, wetting agents, disinfectants, dispersants, solubilizers, antistatic agents, hair dyes, etc. Nonionic surfactants are most commonly used in cosmetics due to their non-irritating properties and compatibility with other ingredients. They are usually fatty acid esters and polyethers.

2. Detergent

Surfactants have highly efficient cleaning and disinfecting properties, and have long been the most important component of cleaning products. Surfactants are the main ingredient in detergents, and they undergo a series of physical and chemical actions with dirt and grease, such as wetting, penetration, emulsification, solubilization, dispersion, and foaming, to achieve cleaning effects through mechanical stirring. The most widely used and abundant surfactants are anionic and nonionic surfactants, while cationic and amphoteric surfactants are only used in the production of certain special types and functional detergents. The main varieties include LAS (linear alkyl benzene sulfonate), AES (fatty alcohol ethoxylate sulfate), MES (α-sulfonated fatty acid salt), AOS (α-olefin sulfonate), alkyl polyoxyethylene, alkyl phenol polyoxyethylene, fatty acid diethanolamide, amino acid type, betaines type, etc.

3) Medical field

Surfactants have the functions of wetting, emulsifying, and dissolving, so they are widely used as pharmaceutical excipients, especially in the recently developed pharmaceutical microemulsion technology. In drug synthesis, surfactants can be used as phase transfer catalysts, which can change the degree of ion solvation and thereby increase the reactivity of ions, allowing reactions to take place in a non-homogeneous system, greatly improving the reaction efficiency. In drug analysis, especially in drug fluorescence spectrophotometry, surfactants are often used as solubilizing and enhancing agents. In the field of medical surgery, before surgery, surface active agents are widely used as bactericides and disinfectants due to their strong interaction with bacterial biofilm proteins, which can cause them to denature or lose function.