Surfactants applications in plastics

Ethylene glycol (EG) may be obtained from cellulose by many ways, for instance, by the catalytic conversion over carbide catalysts [71], It is the simplest linear polyol available and often serves as a model for more complex substrates. Many reports are therefore available on the telomerization of EG. The possible telomer products are shown in Scheme 14, the linear mono-telomer typically being the desired compound. The mono-telomer can be used, after saturation of the double bonds, as a plasticizer alcohol in polyvinylchloride production, whereas application in cosmetics and surfactants has also been indicated [72]. Early examples include the work of Dzhemilev et al., who first reported on the telomerization of butadiene with EG in 1980, yielding a mixture of the mono- and di-telomers and butadiene dimers using a palladium catalyst activated by AlEt3 [73]. Kaneda also reported the use of EG in... 

Because spiropyrans (and especially BIPS) are relatively easy to prepare, a variety of compounds are available from which to deduce correlations (usually semiempirical Hammett-like equations) between structure and photochromic parameters in dilute fluid solutions. The photochromic behavior of a single dye in a variety of solvents can also be correlated with a solvent parameter such as. In applications, however, the dyes are almost always relatively concentrated in a bulk polymer or a polymeric binder film, and various other additives such as antioxidants, surfactants, fire retardants, plasticizers, and other colorants are also present. Under these conditions, the observed photochromic behavior is often very different from that predicted by the dilute fluid solution correlations. 

HPLC is widely used in the chemical and plastics industries. Applications in the chemical industry are quite similar to those for testing pharmaceutical ingredients. They include assay and purity testing of synthetic chemicals such as raw materials, precursors, monomers, surfactants, detergents, and dyes.27,28 In the plastics industry, GPC is used for polymer characterization in product research and quality control. RPC is used in the determination of polymer additives. 

Worldwide production of APEs is about 390,000 tons, and about 80% of it is used to produce octyl- or nonylphenol ethoxylate (NPE) nonionic surfactants. About 10% of it is used in manufacturing phosphite antioxidants (tris(4-nonyl-phenyl) phosphite used in rubber and plastics compounds. The stabilizers and plasticizers based on NP are also used in plastics intended for food-contact applications. They are not highly persistent chemicals and once discharged into the environment, APEs rapidly hydrolyze into alkylphenols that are subsequently slowly biodegraded by microorganisms. The USEPA criteria concentrations for freshwater NP exposure is CMC = 28 acute-pg/1 and CCC = 6.6 chronic-pg/l aquatic community might be exposed to >CMC concentration only briefly and [Pg.209]

Surfactants find application in almost every chemical industry, including detergents, paints, dyestuffs, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, fibres, plastics. 

In just fifty years maleic anhydride has evolved from a little-known, little-used compound to a truly high-volume chemical. Between 1940 and 1978 its production has increased seventy-fivefold. The fact that more than half of all maleic anhydride produced in the United States is consumed in a single application tends to obscure the great versatility of this intermediate. Because this relatively simple molecule plays a key role in numerous chemical reactions, it finds applications in such diverse areas as adhesives, elastomers, plastics, coatings, fibers, lubricants, fuels, detergents, agricultural chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and surfactants, to name only a few. 

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