Alkyl Aryl Sulfonates : Surface activity and structure of sulfonates

Alkyl aryl sulfonates is the largest in quantity among all surfactants produced. Their importance lies in its power of reducing oil-water interfacial tension. They have wide applications based on their functional properties, i.e., de- emulsification & de-emulsification, dispersion, wetting, solubilization, inhibition of rust and corrosion. Petroleum sulfonates originally were produced as by-products of petroleum refining. But refineries are now adopting solvent extraction in place of acid treatment and petroleum sulfonate is no more available as by-product. In the search of alternatives, scientists are working on different source and molecular design. Aimed at the ultimate design and development of suitable sulfonates for a particular application, extensive studies were initiated regarding the effect of structural parameter on their surface-active properties. In this connection, several alkyl aryl sulfonates have been synthesized having different structures in aromatic portion and evaluated for their surface-active, micellar, hydrodynamic, thermodynamic, detergency and solubilization properties to establish a correlation between the structural parameters and these properties.