Detergency and foam studies on linear alkylbenzene sulfonate and secondary alkyl sulfonate

Among anionic surfactants used in detergent products, the sodium salt of linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (NaLAS) is the only surfactant belonging to the aromatic class; the others are aliphatic e.g., the sodium salt of secondary alkyl sulfonate (NaSAS). We observed earlier that certain conformational changes taking place in aromatic anionic surfactants (NaLAS) upon micellization can be brought about in aliphatic anionic surfactants (NaSAS) by addition of phenol. In this paper we examined how conformational changes at the molecular level translated into macroscopic properties such as foam and detergency. We performed foam and detergency measurements on NaLAS, NaSAS, and NaSAS/phenol systems. Foam behavior of these systems is shown to be dependent only upon calcium ion sensitivities of the surfactants whereas the detergency results have a dependence on conformational changes at the molecular level.