Sodium myreth sulfate is a mixture of

organic compound Some chemical authorities define an organic compound as a chemical compound that contains a carbon–hydrogen or carbon–carbon bond; others consider an organic compound to be any chemical compound that contains carbon. For example, carbon-co ...

s with both

detergent A detergent is a surfactant or a mixture of surfactants with Cleanliness, cleansing properties when in Concentration, dilute Solution (chemistry), solutions. There are a large variety of detergents. A common family is the alkylbenzene sulfonate ...

and

surfactant Surfactants are chemical compounds that decrease the surface tension or interfacial tension between two liquids, a liquid and a gas, or a liquid and a solid. The word ''surfactant'' is a Blend word, blend of "surface-active agent", coined in ...

properties. It is found in many personal care products such as

soap Soap is a salt (chemistry), salt of a fatty acid (sometimes other carboxylic acids) used for cleaning and lubricating products as well as other applications. In a domestic setting, soaps, specifically "toilet soaps", are surfactants usually u ...

shampoo Shampoo () is a hair care product, typically in the form of a viscous liquid, that is formulated to be used for cleaning (scalp) hair. Less commonly, it is available in solid bar format. (" Dry shampoo" is a separate product.) Shampoo is use ...

s, and

toothpaste Toothpaste is a paste or gel dentifrice that is used with a toothbrush to clean and maintain the aesthetics of Human tooth, teeth. Toothpaste is used to promote oral hygiene: it is an abrasive that aids in removing dental plaque and food from th ...

. It is an inexpensive and effective

foaming agent A foaming agent is a material such as a surfactant or a blowing agent that facilitates the formation of foam. A surfactant, when present in small amounts, reduces surface tension of a liquid (reduces the work needed to create the foam) or increas ...

. Typical of many detergents, sodium myreth sulfate consists of several closely related compounds. Sometimes the number of

ethylene glycol Ethylene glycol ( IUPAC name: ethane-1,2-diol) is an organic compound (a vicinal diol) with the formula . It is mainly used for two purposes: as a raw material in the manufacture of polyester fibers and for antifreeze formulations. It is an odo ...

ether units (n) is specified in the name as myreth-n sulfate, for example myreth-2 sulfate.

Production

Sodium myreth sulfate is very similar to sodium laureth sulfate; the only difference is two more carbons in the

fatty alcohol Fatty alcohols (or long-chain alcohols) are usually high-molecular mass, straight-chain primary alcohols, but can also range from as few as 4–6 carbon atoms to as many as 22–26, derived from natural fats and oils. The precise chain length vari ...

portion of the

hydrophobic In chemistry, hydrophobicity is the chemical property of a molecule (called a hydrophobe) that is seemingly repelled from a mass of water. In contrast, hydrophiles are attracted to water. Hydrophobic molecules tend to be nonpolar and, thu ...

tail. It is manufactured by

ethoxylation In organic chemistry, ethoxylation is a chemical reaction in which ethylene oxide () adds to a substrate. It is the most widely practiced alkoxylation, which involves the addition of epoxides to substrates. In the usual application, alcoh ...

(hence the "eth" in "myreth") of myristyl alcohol. Subsequently, the terminal OH group is converted to the sulfate by treatment with chlorosulfuric acid.Eduard Smulders, Wolfgang von Rybinski, Eric Sung, Wilfried Rähse, Josef Steber, Frederike Wiebel, Anette Nordskog “Laundry Detergents” in ''Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry'' 2007, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim. .

Safety

Like other ethoxylates, sodium myreth sulfate may become contaminated with 1,4-dioxane during production, which is considered to be a Group 2B suspect carcinogen by the IARC.

References

External links

Household product database
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120717095704/http://hpd.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/household/brands?tbl=chem&id=885 , date=2012-07-17 at NIH web site. Cosmetics chemicals Ethers Household chemicals Organic sodium salts Anionic surfactants Sulfate esters

Production

Safety

See also

References

External links