Synthesis of Fatty Alcohol Ether Carboxylic Ester Surfactant and its Performance in an Anionic/Non-Ionic Mixed System

Abstract

A salt-type fatty alcohol ether carboxylic ester (AECE-Na) surfactant with both anionic and non-ionic characteristics was synthesised using a fatty alcohol ether (AEO) and succinic anhydride. Compared with traditional synthetic methods, neither irritating substances (chloroacetic acid and chloroacetate) nor precious metals (Pt and Pd) were used in the synthesis, which is a simple, economic, and green method. FT-IR and 1H NMR spectroscopies and MALDI TOF mass spectrometry were used to prove the molecular structure of the target product AECE-Na. In addition, the surface activities, intermolecular interactions, application properties, and aggregation behaviours of the individual systems (AEO and AECE-Na) and the anionic/non-ionic mixed system (AECE-Na/AEO) were investigated. The results showed that AECE-Na/AEO exhibits synergistic effects in terms of surface tension reduction efficiency, wetting, emulsification, foaming, and detergency compared with the individual systems.

Properties of Mixed System of N‐Coco Propylene Bis‐guanidine Acetate (CPGA) and Nonionic Surfactants

“…Surfactants are widely used in various fields because of their special properties. However, as commercial products, single surfactant cannot meet the needs of reality, so it is particularly important to study the properties of mixed surfactants [1–3] . Moreover, through a series of studies, it is found that the performance of the mixed surfactants are better than that of single surfactant [4,5] …”