Question

Define The following term with a suitable example of each:

Non-ionic Detergents

Answer 1

Detergents:

• Detergents are the potassium or sodium salts of a long alkyl chain ending with a sulfonate group.
• They are soluble in hard water.
• This solubility is attributed to the fact that the sulfonate group does not attach itself to the ions present in hard water.
• Commonly, anionic detergents such as alkyl benzene sulfonates are used for domestic purposes.

Non-ionic Detergents:

• The detergents which do not contain any ions are called non-ionic detergents.
• These are the detergents that have a neutral group in their molecule
• They are monoesters of high molecular mass alcohols.
• Non-ionic detergents are very effective for dishwashing and other situations where inorganic ions are not allowed.
• For example, Sodium alkyl sulfates and Sodium alkyl benzene sulphonates.