THE POSITION of the hydrophilic group such as sulfate in a long aliphatic chain governs its surfactant properties. If the sulfate group is terminal, detergency is exhibited; if central, wetting properties are manifested. It seemed of interest to study the surfactant properties of a series of model compounds with sulfate salt groups and an unsaturated center at various positions, such as are exemplified by Turkey red oil, oleyl sulfate, ricinoleyl sulfate, methyl 12-sulfato-oleate, methyl 9or 10-sulfatostearate, stearyl sulfate, and lauryl sulfate. These are pictured in Figure 1. Lauryl sulfate, though of shorter chain length than the others, was included as a compound of known surfactant properties useful as a standard. Apart from the comparative study, the purpose of the present work was also to evaluate ricinoleyl alcohol, the fatty alcohol corresponding to ricinoleic acid or to castor oil, as a surfactant base. Here the presence of two hydrophilic groups in the sulfated salt, separated by 12 carbon atoms, was expected to lead to unpredictable and interesting surfactant properties.