Alkyl cationic surfactants

A wide class of aiyl-based quaternary surfactants derives from heterocycles such as pyridine and quinoline. The Aralkyl pyridinium halides are easily synthesized from alkyl halides, and the paraquat family, based upon the 4, 4 -bipyridine species, provides many interesting surface active species widely studied in electron donor-acceptor processes. Cationic surfactants are not particularly useful as cleansing agents, but they play a widespread role as charge control (antistatic) agents in detergency and in many coating and thin film related products. 

Three generations of latices as characterized by the type of surfactant used in manufacture have been defined (53). The first generation includes latices made with conventional (/) anionic surfactants like fatty acid soaps, alkyl carboxylates, alkyl sulfates, and alkyl sulfonates (54) (2) nonionic surfactants like poly(ethylene oxide) or poly(vinyl alcohol) used to improve freeze—thaw and shear stabiUty and (J) cationic surfactants like amines, nitriles, and other nitrogen bases, rarely used because of incompatibiUty problems. Portiand cement latex modifiers are one example where cationic surfactants are used. Anionic surfactants yield smaller particles than nonionic surfactants (55). Often a combination of anionic surfactants or anionic and nonionic surfactants are used to provide improved stabiUty. The stabilizing abiUty of anionic fatty acid soaps diminishes at lower pH as the soaps revert to their acids. First-generation latices also suffer from the presence of soap on the polymer particles at the end of the polymerization. Steam and vacuum stripping methods are often used to remove the soap and unreacted monomer from the final product (56). 

W. M. Linfteld, "Straight-Chain Alkyl ammonium Compounds," in E. Jungermaim, ed.. Cationic Surfactants, Vol. 4, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York,... 

Higher order aUphatic quaternary compounds, where one of the alkyl groups contains - 10 carbon atoms, exhibit surface-active properties (167). These compounds compose a subclass of a more general class of compounds known as cationic surfactants (qv). These have physical properties such as substantivity and aggregation ia polar media (168) that give rise to many practical appHcations. In some cases the ammonium compounds are referred to as iaverse soaps because the charge on the organic portion of the molecule is cationic rather than anionic. 

Ethoxylation of alkyl amine ethoxylates is an economical route to obtain the variety of properties required by numerous and sometimes smaH-volume industrial uses of cationic surfactants. Commercial amine ethoxylates shown in Tables 27 and 28 are derived from linear alkyl amines, ahphatic /-alkyl amines, and rosin (dehydroabietyl) amines. Despite the variety of chemical stmctures, the amine ethoxylates tend to have similar properties. In general, they are yellow or amber Hquids or yellowish low melting soHds. Specific gravity at room temperature ranges from 0.9 to 1.15, and they are soluble in acidic media. Higher ethoxylation promotes solubiUty in neutral and alkaline media. The lower ethoxylates form insoluble salts with fatty acids and other anionic surfactants. Salts of higher ethoxylates are soluble, however. Oil solubiUty decreases with increasing ethylene oxide content but many ethoxylates with a fairly even hydrophilic—hydrophobic balance show appreciable oil solubiUty and are used as solutes in the oil phase. 

Cationic, anionic, and amphoteric surfactants derive thek water solubiUty from thek ionic charge, whereas the nonionic hydrophile derives its water solubihty from highly polar terminal hydroxyl groups. Cationic surfactants perform well in polar substrates like styrenics and polyurethane. Examples of cationic surfactants ate quaternary ammonium chlorides, quaternary ammonium methosulfates, and quaternary ammonium nitrates (see QuARTERNARY AMMONIUM compounds). Anionic surfactants work well in PVC and styrenics. Examples of anionic surfactants ate fatty phosphate esters and alkyl sulfonates. 

In a patent survey [76] about shampoos over the period 1968-1978 the so-called cryptoanionic alkyl ether carboxylate based on tridecyl alcohol with 6.5 mol EO has been mentioned for a conditioning shampoo in combination with an amphoteric and cationic surfactant [77]. Because of the low interference with cationic surfactants no negative effect on the conditioning properties has been found [78]. 

Among cations, potassium, acetylcholine, some cationic surfactants (where the ion-exchanger ion is the / -chlorotetraphenylborate or tetra-phenylborate), calcium (long-chain alkyl esters of phosphoric acid as ion-exchanger ions), among anions, nitrate, perchlorate and tetrafluoro-borate (long-chain tetraalkylammonium cations in the membrane), etc., are determined with this type of ion-selective electrodes. 

Polyamide and polyester fibres are generally scoured using an alkyl poly(oxyethylene) sulphate and sodium carbonate. Some polyester qualities are subjected to a causticisation treatment with sodium hydroxide in the presence of a cationic surfactant to give a lighter fabric with a silkier handle [154,156]. This treatment involves etching (localised saponification) of the polyester surface and is broadly analogous to the S-finish used on triacetate fibres. The process has attracted considerable interest in recent years but its... 

In abroad sense, the model developed for the cobaloxime(II)-catalyzed reactions seems to be valid also for the autoxidation of the alkyl mercaptan to disulfides in the presence of cobalt(II) phthalocyanine tetra-sodium sulfonate in reverse micelles (142). It was assumed that the rate-determining electron transfer within the catalyst-substrate-dioxygen complex leads to the formation of the final products via the RS and O - radicals. The yield of the disulfide product was higher in water-oil microemulsions prepared from a cationic surfactant than in the presence of an anionic surfactant. This difference is probably due to the stabilization of the monomeric form of the catalyst in the former environment. 

Scheme 9.3 N-alkyl-N,N-dimethyl-N-(2-hydroxyethyl)-ammonium chloride salt, a typical cationic surfactant which combines electrostatic and steric stabilizations (electrosteric stabilization).

Cationic surfactants are surface-active agents that have one or more functional groups in their molecule that ionise in aqueous solution to produce positively charged organic ions. The most representative cationic surfactants are quaternary ammonium derivatives in which the N atom is bonded to four alkyl groups. For many years, ditallow dimethylammonium chloride (DTDMAC) has been the most widely used product of this family. Its recalcitrance to biodegradation, however, has... 

DTDMAC was the first widely used cationic surfactant produced at the industrial scale since the 1960s. Its main application was as a fabric softening active agent. Due to its physico-chemical properties, largely determined by the positively charged head group and the long alkyl chains, it adsorbs onto fabrics and makes textiles feel soft. 

Fig. 2.12.1. Chemical structure of different classes of cationic surfactants (a) quaternary ammonium surfactants (quats) (b) dialkylcarboxyethyl hydroxyethyl methyl ammonium surfactants (esterquats) (c) alkyl polyglycol amine surfactants (d) quaternary perfluoro-alkyl ammonium surfactants (e) N, N, N1, JV -tetramethyl-iV, iV -didodecyle-l,3-propane-diyle-diammonium dibromide (cationic gemini surfactant). R = alkyl or benzyl group.

Quaternary fluorinated alkyl ammonium compounds The fluorine-containing cationic surfactants of quat type with the general formula C F2 , 1-S02-NH-CH2-CH2-CH2-N (CH3)3 X (n = 8) (Fig. 2.12.1(d)) were examined by FIA—MS using APCI and ESI in the positive and negative modes. The APCI(- -/—) ionisation resulted in a dealkylation at the nitrogen with ions at m/z 585 or 583, respectively. The alkyl chain of this compound contained the moiety C8Fi7. The ions generated under APCI conditions were characterised as dealkylation products—m/z 585 [M — CH2]+ or m/z 583 [M — H— CH3] —as reported in the literature [35,37]. 

Fig. 2.12.8. FIA-APCI-MS-MS(—) (CID) product ion mass spectrum of a selected [M — H] parent ion (mlz 583) of cationic fluorinated quaternary alkyl ammonium surfactant blend (general formula CnF2n+i- S02-NH-CH2-CH2-CH2-N (CH3)3 x ...

As expected, LC separation of the dichloromethane/acetone SPE eluate in the RP-mode, presented as FIA-APCI-MS(+) in Fig. 2.12.13, was impossible because the alkyl ethoxy amines as cationic surfactants could not be eluted under conventional RP-separation conditions [37, 53]. The use of methane sulfonic acid for ion-pairing resulted in the separation of the compounds in the methanol eluate as shown as TIC (d) and selected ion trace masses (m/z 504 (a), 670 (b), and 802 (c)) in Fig. 2.12.14. Here, the short-chain ethoxy amines were eluted later than the more polar long-chain homologues [39]. 

The cationic surfactant mixture, which was also observed by FIA— MS(+) in the Saale River (Germany) but could not be separated under RP-Cis conditions, was classed as a cationic surfactant mixture of fatty acid ethoxy amine type with the general formula R-N H((CH2-CH2-OH)x)-(CH2-CH2-OH)yX- by FIA-MS-MS(+) [29], The CID spectrum of the parent ion at m/z 538 generated by FIA-MS-MS(+) resulted in a series of equally spaced product ions (A m/z 44) starting with 212 and ending at 520. Besides these product ions, alkyl- and ethoxylate fragment ions with low intensity were observed at 57, 71... 

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