| Description | Sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate is a series of organic compounds with the formula C12H25C6H4SO3Na. It is a colourless salt with useful properties as a surfactant. It is usually produced as a mixture of related sulfonates. It is a major component of laundry detergent. |
| Chemical Properties | white or light yellow flakes |
| Uses | Sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate has been used to stabilize dispersions of graphene nanoflakes (GNFs) during the preparation of the liquid phase of GNFs. It can also suspend single-walled carbon nanotubes as individuals in aqueous media and also give well-resolved spectral features. |
| Uses | Anionic detergent. |
| Uses | A surfactant used in proteomics research. |
| General Description | Sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate is a white to light yellow flakes, granules or powder. Sodium dodecylbenzenesulphonate is soluble in water. The primary hazard is the threat to the environment. Immediate steps should be taken to limit its spread to the environment. Sodium dodecylbenzenesulphonate is used as a synthetic detergent. |
| Air & Water Reactions | Sodium dodecylbenzenesulphonate is soluble in water. |
| Reactivity Profile | SODIUM DODECYLBENZENESULFONATE is incompatible with strong oxidizers. |
| Health Hazard | Minor skin and eye irritant. INGESTION: May cause vomiting, diarrhea, and intestinal distension. |
| Flammability and Explosibility | Nonflammable |
| Industrial uses | These frothers are mixtures of alcohols containing 6–8 carbon atoms. They were at one time marketed by DuPont and they are tailored frothers for specific ore types. The bestknown frother from this group is methyl isobutyl carbinol (MIBC) and 2-ethyl hexanol.
Aliphatic alcohol frothers are used as mixtures of different carbon lengths and as a mixture of hydrocarbon oils. |
| Safety Profile | Poison by intravenous route. Moderately toxic by ingestion. A skin and severe eye irritant. When heated to decomposiuon it emits tomc fumes of NazO. See also SULFONATES |
| Purification Methods | It crystallises from propan-2-ol or H2O. [Gray et al. J Org Chem 20 515 1955, Beilstein 11 IV 514.] |
| Environmental considerations | Biodegradability has been well studied , and is affected by the isomerization (branching). The salt has an LD50 of 2.3 mg / liter for fish , about 4x more toxic than the branched tetra propylene benzene sulfonate. It is however biodegraded more rapidly. Oxidative degradation initiates at the alkyl chain. |
| Alkyl benzene sulfonates | Most sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonates are a member of the linear alkyl benzene sulfonates, meaning that the dodecyl group (C12H25) is un branched. This dodecyl chain is attached at the 4- position of the benzene sulfonate group. Linear dodecyl-4-benzene sulfonate anions can exist in six isomers (ignoring optical isomers), depending on the carbon of the dodecyl group that is attached to the benzene ring. The isomer shown below left is 4-(5-dodecyl ) benzene sulfonate (4 indicating the position of the benzene ring, 5 indicating the position on the dodecane chain). Branched isomers, e.g. those derived from tetramerized propylene, are also known (below right) but are not as widely used because they biodegrade too slowly.
Production
Trillions of kilograms are produced annually. Given the large scale of the application, the alkyl benzene sulfonates have been prepared by many methods. In the most common route, benzene is alkylated by long chain mono alkenes (e.g. dodecene) using hydrogen fluoride as a catalyst. The purified dodecyl benzenes (and related derivatives) are then sulfonated with sulfur trioxide to give the sulfonic acid. The sulfonic acid is subsequently neutralized with sodium hydroxide. |
