Soap and Detergents

CHEMISTRY SSS3 First term

WEEK 8

Soap and Detergents

Performance objectives

Students should be able to:

1. Explain the preparation of detergents.
2. Explain the mode of action of detergents.
3. Give at least three differences between soaps and detergents

Content

Detergents

A detergent is a surfactant or mixture of surfactants that have cleaning properties in dilute solution with water. A detergent is similar to soap, but with a general structure R-SO₄^-, Na⁺, where R is a long-chain alkyl group. Like soaps, detergents are amphiphilic, meaning they have both hydrophobic and hydrophilic regions. Most detergents are akylbenzenefulfonates. Detergents tend to be more soluble in hard water than soap because the sulfonate of detergent doesn't bind calcium and…