Personal care products quaternary ammonium

A polymeric quaternary ammonium salt of HEC, polyquatemium-24, in combination with certain primary surfactants, salts, and other viscosifying agents can be used as a thickener in personal care products such as shampoos, hair conditioners, creams, and aftershave gels. 

Cationic surfactants contain quaternary ammonium ions as their hydrophilic parts (Table 30.3). This class of surfactants has gained importance because of its bacteriostatic properties. Therefore, cationic surfactants are applied as disinfectants and antiseptic components in personal care products and medicine. Because of their high adsorptivity to a wide variety of surfaces, they are used as antistatic agents, textile softeners, corrosion inhibitors, and flotation agents. 

Taking into account the unsurpassed mildness of all these surfactants, promising sphere of their application is "no-more-tears" child shampoos and products for intimate hygiene. In various combinations phosphobetaines and phosphatobetaines are patented in a range of personal care products by Johnson Johnson [44, 45, 111]. Zwitter-ionic 3-amidopropyldimethylammonio-l-propane-3-sulphonate derived from cholic acid (ChAPS) has been used as selective membrane protein solubiliser in the biochemical practice. All surface-active betaines are compared favourably with quaternary ammonium compounds in respect to their moderate toxicity, low mucous membrane irritation and better biodegradation. 

Quaternary ammonium compounds play a vital role in the formulation of hair and skin care products, and for use in the personal care industry can be divided into three categories, i.e. (i) alkyl quaternary ammonium compounds (including mono-, di- and trialkyl quaternaries), (ii) ethoxylated quaternaries, and (iii) ester quaternaries. The synthetic route for preparing such compounds is shown in Figure 14.24. 

A wide range of derivatives are prepared from alkyleneamines and poly(ethyleneamines) such as diethylene triamine (DETA), triethylenetetramine (TETA), imidazolines, amidoamines, and their ethoxylated and propoxylated derivatives as depicted in Scheme 1.7. Reaction products of fatty acids and their derivatives with DMAPA (see Section 1.6.1) can be quatemized with various alkylating agents to produce amidopropyl ammonium quaternaries, many of which have been patented and commercialized in a variety of applications, including personal care, fabric softening, and industrial/oil-fleld applications. 

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