Soapless Soap / Synthetic Detergents
Synthetic detergents have all the properties of soaps but actually does not contain any soap , so they are known as “ soapless soaps ‟.
Straight chain alkyl group containing detergents are biodegradable whereas branched chain alkyl group containing detergents are nonbiodegradable .
Unlike soaps , synthetic detergents can be used in both soft and hard water . This is due to the reason that calcium and magnesium salts of detergents like their sodium salts are also soluble in water . Synthetic detergents are mainly classified into three categories :
1 . Anionic Detergents
These are sodium salts of sulphonated long chain alcohols or hydrocarbons .
( i ) Alkyl hydrogen sulphates formed by treating long chain alcohols with concentrated sulphuric acids are neutralised with alkali to form anionic detergents .
( ii ) Alkyl benzene sulphonates are obtained by neutralising alkyl benzene sulphonic acids with alkali .