What is a detergent in chemistry?
Detergents are amphipathic molecules that contain polar or charged hydrophilic groups (heads) at the end of long lipophilic hydrocarbon groups (tails) (Figure 1). They are also known as surfactants because they decrease the surface tension of water.
What is saponification process?
Saponification is a process that involves the conversion of fat, oil, or lipid, into soap and alcohol by the action of aqueous alkali (e.g. NaOH). Soaps are salts of fatty acids, which in turn are carboxylic acids with long carbon chains. A typical soap is sodium oleate.
What chemicals are used in detergents?
The surfactants used in detergents are made up of petrochemical solutions. Some of them are: Petrochemicals and Oleo chemicals, sulfurtrioxide, sulphuric acid and ethylene oxide. As an alkali potassium and sodium are used.
How does soap work chemistry?
Soap breaks up the oil into smaller drops, which can mix with the water. It works because soap is made up of molecules with two very different ends. One end of soap molecules love water – they are hydrophilic. The other end of soap molecues hate water – they are hydrophobic.
What type of compound is detergent?
Detergents are a group of compounds with an amphiphilic structure, where each molecule has a hydrophilic (polar) head and a long hydrophobic (non-polar) tail. The hydrophobic portion of these molecules may be straight- or branched-chain hydrocarbons, or it may have a steroid structure.
What is the main component of a detergent?
surfactants
Components. Laundry detergents may contain builders (50% by weight, approximately), surfactants (15%), bleach (7%), enzymes (2%), soil antideposition agents, foam regulators, corrosion inhibitors, optical brighteners, dye transfer inhibitors, fragrances, dyes, fillers and formulation aids.
What is the principle behind saponification test?
Principle: Due to hydrophobic of nature of lipids they are insoluble in water and are soluble in organic solvents. Saponification test: Principle: Lipids upon alkaline hydrolysis release glycerol and fatty acids. Later sodium (Na+) or potassium (K+) ions combines with fatty acids to form “soap” (foam).
What is the importance of saponification?
Saponification is important to the industrial user for it helps to know the amount of free fatty acid that is present in a food material. The quantity of free fatty acid can be distinguished by determining the quantity of alkali that must be added to the fat or oil to make it neutral.
How do you make detergent in chemistry?
To make a detergent, you need fat and sodium hydroxide. Fats can be obtained from animals in the form of tallow and/or plants such as coconut or palm oil. Sodium hydroxide is also known as lye and is an essential component for making soap. Sodium hydroxide, or lye, is extremely caustic and must be handled properly.
What are soap molecules called?
Learn about our Editorial Process. Updated on July 19, 2019. Soaps are sodium or potassium fatty acids salts, produced from the hydrolysis of fats in a chemical reaction called saponification. Each soap molecule has a long hydrocarbon chain, sometimes called its ‘tail’, with a carboxylate ‘head’.
What is soap chemical formula?
RCOO-
Soaps are denoted by the general formula RCOO-Na+, where R is any long chain alkyl group consisting 12 to 18 carbon atoms. Some common examples of fatty acids that are used in soaps are stearic acid having chemical formula C17H35COOH, palmitic acid having chemical formula C15H31COOH.
What is the main compound of a detergent?
The most commonly found detergents are alkylbenzene sulfonates: a family of soap-like compounds that are more soluble in hard water, because the polar sulfonate (of detergents) is less likely than the polar carboxylate (of soap) to bind to calcium and other ions found in hard water.