A detergent is a surfactant or a mixture of surfactants with cleansing properties when in dilute solutions. There are a large variety of detergents; often they are the sodium salts of long chain alkyl hydrogen sulphate or a long chain of benzene sulphonic acid. The most commonly found detergents are alkylbenzene sulfonates: a family of soap-like compounds that are more soluble in hard water, because the polar sulfonate is less likely than the polar carboxylate to bind to calcium and other ions found in hard water.
Surfactants are compounds that lower the surface tension between two liquids, between a gas and a liquid, or between a liquid and a solid. Surfactants may act as detergents, wetting agents, emulsifiers, foaming agents, or dispersants. The word "surfactant" is a blend of surface-active agent, coined c. 1950.
A micelle or micella is an aggregate of surfactant phospholipid molecules dispersed in a liquid, forming a colloidal suspension. A typical micelle in water forms an aggregate with the hydrophilic "head" regions in contact with surrounding solvent, sequestering the hydrophobic single-tail regions in the micelle centre.
A lysis buffer is a buffer solution used for the purpose of breaking open cells for use in molecular biology experiments that analyze the labile macromolecules of the cells. Most lysis buffers contain buffering salts and ionic salts to regulate the pH and osmolarity of the lysate. Sometimes detergents are added to break up membrane structures. For lysis buffers targeted at protein extraction, protease inhibitors are often included, and in difficult cases may be almost required. Lysis buffers can be used on both animal and plant tissue cells.
Protein purification is a series of processes intended to isolate one or a few proteins from a complex mixture, usually cells, tissues or whole organisms. Protein purification is vital for the specification of the function, structure and interactions of the protein of interest. The purification process may separate the protein and non-protein parts of the mixture, and finally separate the desired protein from all other proteins. Separation of one protein from all others is typically the most laborious aspect of protein purification. Separation steps usually exploit differences in protein size, physico-chemical properties, binding affinity and biological activity. The pure result may be termed protein isolate.
Ethoxylation is a chemical reaction in which ethylene oxide adds to a substrate. It is the most widely practiced alkoxylation, which involves the addition of epoxides to substrates.
A fabric softener or fabric conditioner is a conditioner that is applied to laundry during the rinse cycle in a washing machine to reduce harshness in clothes that are dried in air after machine washing. In contrast to laundry detergents, fabric softeners may be regarded as a kind of after-treatment laundry aid.
Laundry detergent is a type of detergent used for cleaning dirty laundry (clothes). Laundry detergent is manufactured in powder and liquid form.
Triton X-100 is a nonionic surfactant that has a hydrophilic polyethylene oxide chain and an aromatic hydrocarbon lipophilic or hydrophobic group. The hydrocarbon group is a 4-(1,1,3,3-tetramethylbutyl)-phenyl group. Triton X-100 is closely related to IGEPAL CA-630 or former Nonidet P-40, which might differ from it mainly in having slightly shorter ethylene oxide chains. Thus Triton X-100 is slightly more hydrophilic than Igepal CA-630; these two detergents may not be considered to be functionally interchangeable for most applications.
The hydrophilic-lipophilic balance of a surfactant is a measure of the degree to which it is hydrophilic or lipophilic, determined by calculating values for the different regions of the molecule, as described by Griffin in 1949 and 1954. Other methods have been suggested, notably in 1957 by Davies.
NUN buffer is a solution that makes it possible to purify proteins located in the nucleus of eukaryotic cells. Although other procedures are available they result in loss of albumin D-box binding protein (DBP) which is unwanted if nuclear signal pathways are to be investigated. Therefore, a new extraction procedure was developed in 1993 to increase recovery of nonhistone proteins using a (NUN) solution containing 0.3 M NaCl, 1 M urea, and 1% nonionic detergent Nonidet P-40, which destabilize salt bridges, hydrogen bonds, and hydrophobic interactions, respectively; resulting in a disruption of interaction between proteins and DNA. By incubating nuclei in NUN buffer and centrifuging the solution, the supernatant will therefore contain nuclear proteins.
NP-40 is a commercially available detergent with CAS Registry Number 9016-45-9. NP-40 is an ethoxylated nonylphenol for non-ionic surfactants and can act as emulsifier and demulsifier agent.
A hydrotrope is a compound that solubilizes hydrophobic compounds in aqueous solutions by means other than micellar solubilization. Typically, hydrotropes consist of a hydrophilic part and a hydrophobic part, but the hydrophobic part is generally too small to cause spontaneous self-aggregation. Hydrotropes do not have a critical concentration above which self-aggregation spontaneously starts to occur. Instead, some hydrotropes aggregate in a step-wise self-aggregation process, gradually increasing aggregation size. However, many hydrotropes do not seem to self-aggregate at all, unless a solubilizate has been added. Examples of hydrotropes include urea, tosylate, cumenesulfonate and xylenesulfonate.
Radioimmunoprecipitation assay buffer is a lysis buffer used to lyse cells and tissue for the radio immunoprecipitation assay (RIPA). This buffer is more denaturing than NP-40 or Triton X-100 because it contains the ionic detergents SDS and sodium deoxycholate as active constituents and is particularly useful for disruption of nuclear membranes in the preparation of nuclear extracts. The RIPA buffer gives low background but can denature kinases.
Octyl glucoside is a nonionic surfactant frequently used to solubilise integral membrane proteins for studies in biochemistry. Structurally, it is a glycoside derived from glucose and octanol. Like Genapol X-100 and Triton X-100, it is a nonphysiological amphiphile that makes lipid bilayers less "stiff".
Nonidet P-40 is a nonionic, non-denaturing detergent. Its official IUPAC name is octylphenoxypolyethoxyethanol. Nonidet is a trademark of Shell Chemical Co.
Paint has four major components: pigments, binders, solvents, and additives. Pigments serve to give paint its color, texture, toughness, as well as determining if a paint is opaque or not. Common white pigments include titanium dioxide and zinc oxide. Binders are the film forming component of a paint as it dries and affects the durability, gloss, and flexibility of the coating. Polyurethanes, polyesters, and acrylics are all examples of common binders. The solvent is the medium in which all other components of the paint are dissolved and evaporates away as the paint dries and cures. The solvent also modifies the curing rate and viscosity of the paint in its liquid state. There are two types of paint: solvent-borne and water-borne paints. Solvent-borne paints use organic solvents as the primary vehicle carrying the solid components in a paint formulation, whereas water-borne paints use water as the continuous medium. The additives that are incorporated into paints are a wide range of things which impart important effects on the properties of the paint and the final coating. Common paint additives are catalysts, thickeners, stabilizers, emulsifiers, texturizers, biocides to fight bacterial growth, etc.
An oil dispersant is a mixture of emulsifiers and solvents that helps break oil into small droplets following an oil spill. Small droplets are easier to disperse throughout a water volume, and small droplets may be more readily biodegraded by microbes in the water. Dispersant use involves a trade-off between exposing coastal life to surface oil and exposing aquatic life to dispersed oil. While submerging the oil with dispersant may lessen exposure to marine life on the surface, it increases exposure for animals dwelling underwater, who may be harmed by toxicity of both dispersed oil and dispersant. Although dispersant reduces the amount of oil that lands ashore, it may allow faster, deeper penetration of oil into coastal terrain, where it is not easily biodegraded.
Wastewater comes out of the laundry process with additional energy (heat), lint, soil, dyes, finishing agents, and other chemicals from detergents. Some laundry wastewater goes directly into the environment, due to the flaws of water infrastructure. The majority goes to sewage treatment plants before flowing into the environment. Some chemicals remain in the water after treatment, which may contaminate the water system. Some have argued they can be toxic to wildlife, or can lead to eutrophication.
Sucrose esters or sucrose fatty acid esters are a group of non-naturally occurring surfactants chemically synthesized from the esterification of sucrose and fatty acids. This group of substances is remarkable for the wide range of hydrophilic-lipophilic balance (HLB) that it covers. The polar sucrose moiety serves as a hydrophilic end of the molecule, while the long fatty acid chain serves as a lipophilic end of the molecule. Due to this amphipathic property, sucrose esters act as emulsifiers; i.e., they have the ability to bind both water and oil simultaneously. Depending on the HLB value, some can be used as water-in-oil emulsifiers, and some as oil-in-water emulsifiers. Sucrose esters are used in cosmetics, food preservatives, food additives, and other products. A class of sucrose esters with highly substituted hydroxyl groups, olestra, is also used as a fat replacer in food.
