Di-tallow dimethylammonium chloride

The dominating use of ester quats is as fabric softener and the transition from the traditional di(hydrogenated tallow)dimethylammonium chloride, which had been the work-horse softener for more than three decades, to ester quats was made in Europe in the early 1990s as a response to pressure from environmental authorities in the European Union [23]. The transition has been less rapid in the United States, but ester quats have gradually replaced the traditional quats in most of the major softener products there as well. The same trend is ongoing in the rest of the world. 

Di-hard tallow dimethylammonium chloride (DHTDMAC), where R is a hydrogenated tallow alkyl (C /Cig chain). 

Figure 2.6 Mechanism for the formation of organoclay from Na-Mt and di(hydro-genated tallow)-dimethylammonium chloride (2HT), in the absence or in the presence of stearic acid (SA).

By far the largest use of esterquats today is as actives in rinse cycle softener formulations. Softeners at the same time have the largest single use of quaternary ammonium compounds. The breakthrough of esterquats in this application was in 1991, when European detergent manufacturers reformulated their rinse cycle softeners due to pressure from environmental authorities. The active compound under concern, di(hydrogenated-tallow)dimethylammonium chloride (DHTDMAC), which had been used safely for more than 30 years in fabric softeners, was given an environmentally hazardous classification suddenly. The reason was that there was evidence from laboratory studies that the PEC of DHTDMAC may have exceeded its PNEC, particularly in poorly diluted surface waters. 

Chem. Descrip. Di (hydrogenated tallow) dimethylammonium chloride, IPA CAS 61789-80-8 EINECS/ELINCS 263-090-2... 

---