Linear alkylbenzene sulphonate
The workhorse anionic surfactant behind most washing-up liquids and laundry powders — the specific molecule the word 'detergent' usually stands in for.
Precautions
- Never mix with other cleaning products
- Rinse thoroughly afterwards
In detail
Most of what this catalogue says about surfactants is said in general terms, and this record exists so that at least one of them is a named compound with a regulator behind it. Linear alkylbenzene sulphonate is the anionic surfactant that dominates domestic cleaning products by volume: a long hydrocarbon tail that buries itself in oil, and a sulphonate head that stays in the water. The New Jersey Department of Health describes it as a white to light yellow sand-like solid used as a detergent, in cleaning products and in pesticides. Its reactivity list is short and useful — incompatible with oxidising agents including chlorine, and with strong acids. That is the regulator-sourced half of the question readers ask as 'can I mix bleach and washing-up liquid', and it is deliberately only half. The sheet describes the pure compound; a bottle of washing-up liquid is a formulation containing several surfactants, salts, preservatives and perfumes, and what it does when poured into bleach is a question about that formulation rather than about this molecule. CleaningHQ has not raised its position on that mixing question on the strength of this reading, and says so.
Properties
- Chemical name
- Sodium dodecylbenzene sulphonate
- pH
- Varies by product
What works
Linear alkylbenzene sulphonate is effective against Grease Supported
Why
- Linear alkylbenzene sulphonate is explained by Surfactancy
- Linear alkylbenzene sulphonate is explained by Emulsification
- Linear alkylbenzene sulphonate is explained by Wetting and surface tension
Sources for this page
Sources
Right to Know Hazardous Substance Fact Sheet: Sodium Dodecylbenzene Sulfonate (RTK 1698)
New Jersey Department of Health, 2002 · Government or regulator
Relied on for: That sodium dodecylbenzene sulphonate is used as a detergent and in cleaning products, and that it is incompatible with oxidising agents including chlorine and with strong acids. (states this directly)
Verification: a person has read the passage relied on.
Read on — The 'IDENTIFICATION' paragraph and the 'HANDLING AND STORAGE' reactivity list. Supports a narrower statement — our claim was reduced. Recorded as supporting a narrower statement than the question it bears on. It establishes that the workhorse anionic surfactant is incompatible with chlorine and strong acids as a substance; it does NOT establish what a specific bottle of washing-up liquid does when poured into bleach, because a formulated product contains more than one ingredient. The existing bleach-plus-detergent claim was left at its previous support level rather than raised on this reading.
Last reviewed by a person on .