Alkylphenols 4-dodecylphenol

The alkylphenols behave in the same manner as fatty alcohols. The nonyl (or octyl) phenol is widely used with 8 to 12 molecules of ethylene oxide. Nonylphenol is completely soluble in water at room temperature and exhibits excellent detergency. Dodecylphenol ethoxylate is used in certain agriculture emulsifiers and dinonylphenol as low or nonfoaming ingredients of household washing machine powders [3, 4]. 

Some of the important structures arising, a brief note of their properties and some of their many uses are listed in Table 11.1 The C4 and Cg alkylphenols are pure compounds although the latter due to rearrangement can contain a small proportion of the 1,1,2,3-tetramethylbutyl isomer. By contrast the Cg member is a mixture of several isomers as is the C 2> dodecylphenol a less well known material which is not listed in the Table. Nevertheless the vast number of uses of nonylphenol are partly attributable to this very lack of homogeneity. An extensive list of alkylphenols with their properties has been descrbed (ref.1)... 

The most important commercial alkylphenols are the methyl derivatives (the cre-sols and xylenols), butylated phenols, predominantly tertiary butylphenols, and phenols with long alkyl chains, for example nonylphenol and dodecylphenol. The latter are commonly used in the production of surfactants. 

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