Surface active agents hydrophobic group

Soap is one example of a broader class of materials known as surface-active agents, or surfactants (qv). Surfactant molecules contain both a hydrophilic or water-liking portion and a separate hydrophobic or water-repelling portion. The hydrophilic portion of a soap molecule is the carboxylate head group and the hydrophobic portion is the aUphatic chain. This class of materials is simultaneously soluble in both aqueous and organic phases or preferential aggregate at air—water interfaces. It is this special chemical stmcture that leads to the abiUty of surfactants to clean dirt and oil from surfaces and produce lather. 

Surface active agents, more commonly known as surfactants, are the groups of chemical compounds that in the most common form constitute an ionic or polar portion (hydrophilic head) and a hydrocarbon portion (hydrophobic tail). The ionic or polar portion interacts strongly with the water via dipole-dipole or ion-dipole interactions and... 

Surfactants, sometimes called surface active agents or detergents, are amphiphilic materials which contain both apolar, hydrophobic (lipophilic) and polar, hydrophilic (lipophobic) groups (Hartley, 1948, 1977 Fendler and Fendler, 1975 Fendler, 1982 Lindman and Wennerstrom, 1980 Sudholter... 

Synthetic detergents (syndets) belong to the group of surface active agents [which are substances which affect (usually reduce) surface tension when dissolved in water or in water solns] and have structurally unsymmetrical molecules contg both hydrophilic, or water-soluble, groups and hydrophobic, or oil-soluble hydrocarbon chains... 

Most softeners consist of molecules with both a hydrophobic and a hydrophilic part. Therefore, they can be classified as surfactants (surface active agents) and are to be found concentrated at the fibre surfaces. Most softeners have a low water solubility. Therefore softening products are usually sold as oil in water emulsions containing 20-30 % solids. The softener molecules typically contain a long alkyl group, sometimes branched, of more than 16 and up to 22 carbon atoms, but most have 18 corresponding to the stearyl residue. Exceptions to this molecular structure are the special categories of silicones, paraffins and polyethylene softeners. About one-third of the softeners used in the textile industry are silicone based. 

Surfactants produce micelles. Their amphophilic nature classifies them as detergents, surface-active agents that are composed of a hydrophilic group and a hydrophobic hydrocarbon chain. In addition to what is known as the critical micelle concentration (CMC), individual surfactant molecules (monomers) interact with each other to form aggregates or micelles, establishing a state of equilibrium between a constant monomer concentration and a rapidly increasing micelle concentration. 

Foams form where surface-active chemicals or "surfactants" are present. Surfactants also are called amphipathic agents and are characterized by the presence of both hydrophilic and hydrophobic functional groups (7). Surface-active agents that may be present in natural waters include fulvic and humic acids, collectively termed humic substances, (2,3), fatty acids and lipids (4), and proteins (5), and all have been identified as contributing surfactants in the few characterization studies that have been conducted on natural foams in freshwater environments (5-70) and marine surface layers (77-76). 

A surface-active agent (or surfactant) is a substance that lowers the surface or interfacial tension of the medium in which it is dissolved. Surfactants have a characteristic molecular structure consisting of hydrophobic and hydrophilic groups. This is known as an amphipathic structure, and causes not only concentration of the surfactant at the surface and reduction of the surface tension of the solvent, but also orientation of the molecule at the surface with its hydrophilic group in the aqueous phase and its hydrophobic group oriented away... 

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