Fabric softener

Fabric softeners are cationic surfactants and these are often added to the final rinse of the laundry and dispensed to the rinse water via a special compartment in the washing machine. How can a surfactant 

Cationic surfactants are also the basis of commonly used antiseptic ointments - see box. 

Cationic surfactants have two features that enable them to attack and destroy bacteria their positively charged head and their long hydrocarbon tail. The former means the molecule will be attracted to the cell wall of a bacterium, which is negatively charged, the latter means that it can rupture the cell wall by piercing it. When that happens the cell begins 

Currently used fabric softeners are all cationic surfactants of structural types (Puchta, 1993 Levinson, 1999 Friedli, 2001b, 2002)  

Polyethenoxylated Diamido Quaternary Ammonium Salts (RCONHCH2CH2)2N (CHOlClLCfLO HX- (X is usually CH3SO4) 

Ester Quaternary Ammonium Salts (Ester Quats) 

Amidoester Quaternary Ammonium Salts (Amidoester Quat) 

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An extension of these calculations to cationic dialkylamide salts required an even more complex model [Adolf et al. 1995]. These molecules have the general formula (CH3)2N [(CH2) iCH3][(CH2)m-iCH3]CK and the isomer with m = m = 18 is one of the main active ingredients in commercial fabric softeners. The presence of two long alkyl... 

Textile uses are a relatively stable area and consist of the lamination of polyester foams to textile products, usually by flame lamination or electronic heat sealing techniques. Flexible or semirigid foams are used in engineered packaging in the form of special slab material. Flexible foams are also used to make filters (reticulated foam), sponges, scmbbers, fabric softener carriers, squeegees, paint appHcators, and directly appHed foam carpet backing. 

Other Disposable Applications. There are many other disposable appHcations for spunbonded fabrics including fiber bale wrap, metal core wrap, wipes, and clothes dryer fabric softener sheets. 

A reverse-wipe appHcation is seen ia the clothes dryer fabric softener sheet whereia the spunbonded fabric is coated with a complex combination of compounds that are released iato the environment of a hot clothes dryer to soften and perfume the clothes, as weU as provide an antistatic quaHty. The spunbonded sheet, which must be made of polyester or nylon for temperature resistance, provides a simple and cost-effective medium to store the chemical compounds prior to release ia the dryer. 

Liquid Fabric Softeners. The principal functions of fabric softeners are to minimize the problem of static electricity and to keep fabrics soft (see Antistatic agents). In these laundry additives, the fragrance must reinforce the sense of softness that is the desired result of their use. Most fabric softeners have a pH of about 3.5, which limits the materials that can be used in the fragrances. For example, acetals cannot be used because they break down and cause malodor problems in addition, there is the likelihood of discoloration from Schiff bases, oakmoss extracts, and some specialty chemicals. Testing of fragrance materials in product bases should take place under accelerated aging conditions (eg, 40°C in plastic bottles) to check for odor stabiUty and discoloration. 

Patty amines and chemical products derived from the amines are used in many industries. Uses for the nitrogen derivatives may be broken down as follows as a percentage of total market fabric softeners (46%), oil field chemicals (15%), asphalt emulsifiers (10%), petroleum additives (10%), mining (4%), and others (15%) (8). 

The single largest market use for quaternary fatty amines is in fabric softeners. Monoalkyl quaternaries (chloride) have been used in Hquid detergent softener antistat formulations (LDSA), dialkyl dimethyl quaternaries (chloride) in the rinse cycle, and dialkyl dimethyl quaternaries (sulfate) as dryer softeners. 

There are two reasons why the concentration of quaternaries is beheved to remain at a low level in sewage treatment systems. First, quaternaries appear to bind anionic compounds and thus are effectively removed from wastewater by producing stable, lower toxicity compounds (205). Anionic compounds are present in sewer systems at significantly higher concentrations than are cations (202). Second, the nature of how most quaternaries are used ensures that their concentrations in wastewater treatment systems are always relatively low but steady. Consumer products such as fabric softeners, hair conditioners, and disinfectants contain only a small amount of quaternary compounds. This material is then diluted with large volumes of water during use. 

The single largest market for quaternary ammonium compounds is as fabric softeners. In 1993 this market accounted for over 50,000 metric tons of quaternaries in the United States (235). Consumption of these products is increasing at an annual rate of about 2—3%. The hair care market consumed over 9000 metric tons of quaternary ammonium compounds in 1992 (236). The annual consumption for organoclays is estimated at 12,700 metric tons (237). Esterquats have begun to gain market share in Western Europe and growth is expected to continue. 

Fabric Softening. The use of quaternary surfactants as fabric softeners and static control agents can be broken down into three main household product types rinse cycle softeners tumble dryer sheets and detergents containing softeners, also known as softergents. Rinse cycle softeners... 

In 1991, the European fabric softener market took a sharp turn. Producers in Germany, the Netherlands, and later in Austria and Switzerland voluntarily gave up the use of DHTDMAC (238) because of pressure from local environmental authorities, who gave an environmentally hazardous classification to DHTDMAC. A number of esterquats were developed as candidates to become successors to DHTDMAC (see Fig. 1). The ester group facihtates biodegradation. 

The presence of ammonia during hydrogenation suppresses formation of secondary amines and inhibits hydrogenation of double bonds in unsaturated nitriles. Eatty amines are used as corrosion inhibitors, flotation agents, quaternary salts for sanitizing agents and textile fabric softeners, and surface-active agents. 

Fabric Softeners, Surfactants and Bleach Activators. Mono- and bisamidoamines and their imidazoline counterparts are formed by the condensation reaction of one or two moles of a monobasic fatty acid (typically stearic or oleic) or their methyl esters with one mole of a polyamine. Imidazoline formation requires that the ethyleneamine have at least one segment in which a secondary amine group Hes adjacent to a primary amine group. These amidoamines and imidazolines form the basis for a wide range of fabric softeners, surfactants, and emulsifiers. Commonly used amines are DETA, TETA, and DMAPA, although most of the polyethylene and polypropane polyamines can be used. 

Miscellaneous Derivatives. Fimehc acid is used as an intermediate in some pharmaceuticals and in aroma chemicals ethylene brassylate is a synthetic musk (114). Salts of the diacids have shown utUity as surfactants and as corrosion inhibitors. The alkaline, ammonium, or organoamine salts of glutaric acid (115) or C-5—C-16 diacids (116) are useflil as noncorrosive components for antifreeze formulations, as are methylene azelaic acid and its alkah metal salt (117). Salts derived from C-21 diacids are used primarily as surfactants and find apphcation in detergents, fabric softeners, metal working fluids, and lubricants (118). The salts of the unsaturated C-20 diacid also exhibit anticorrosion properties, and the sodium salts of the branched C-20 diacids have the abUity to complex heavy metals from dilute aqueous solutions (88). 

Laundering Conditions Around the World. Any laundeting process is an iaterplay between the equipment used the materials entering the process, ie, detergent, additional bleach, fabric softener, or water and the procedure followed. Equipment and procedures ia three principal geographical areas are summarised ia Table 3. 

Quaternary ammonium compounds are cationic surfactants that bind well to anionic surfaces like the protein in hair. The ammonium end sticks to the hair, leaving the long fatty end of the molecule to act as a lubricant. They are slightly conductive, so they reduce the buildup of static electricity. Quats, as they are sometimes called, include compounds like stearalkonium chloride, disteardimonium chloride, quaternium-5, or quaternium-18, polyquaternium-10 and they are all similar in form and function to cetrimonium chloride. These compounds are also widely used as fabric softeners, for all of the same reasons they make good hair conditioners. They are also used to thicken the shampoo. 

Yet another ingredient in laundry detergents is diethyl ester dimethyl ammonium chloride (DEEDMAC). It is a fabric softener. It is a cationic surfactant that is rapidly biodegradable. It works by reducing the friction between fibers, and between fibers and... 

Cetrimonium chloride is used in hair conditioners, fabric softeners, and antistatic agents for hair and fibers. It makes fabrics and hair less prone to static electricity buildup by making them slightly conductive. 

Quaternary ammonium compounds (quats) are prepared - by moderate heating of the amine and the alkyl halide in a suitable solvent - as the chlorides or the bromides. Subsequently conversion to the hydroxides may be carried out. Major applications of the quat chlorides are as fabric softeners and as starch cationizing agent. Several bio-active compounds (agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals) possess the quat-structure. Important applications of quat bromides are in phase transfer catalysis and in zeolite synthesis. 

An unusual group of phosphazenes, said to be useful as fabric softeners, has been obtained from various dichlorophosphoranes and A-lithiated sulphur imides ... 

Amines are important industrial chemicals which are involved in everyday life [3, 4]. Apart from the usual classification into primary, secondary, and tertiary amines, the distinction is often made between lighf amines (less than six-carbon substituents) and fatty amines. light amines are intermediates for the synthesis of drugs, herbicides, cosmetics, etc. [3]. They also find use as vulcanization accelerators and extraction agents. Fatty amines are involved in the synthesis of corrosion inhibitors and cationic surfactants, which are used in ore flotation processes and are good fabric softeners and antistatic agents [4—6],... 

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