General Uses of Surfactants like the Sorbitan Monooleate

Having a wide variety of applications in different industries, Surfactants are a kind of chemical substances. In many products that we use daily, they are very essential components.

Substances that mainly lower the surface tension of a liquid they can be defined as.  Allowing it to resist to external forces this is a property that the surface of liquids possesses. A paper clip to float on water, without sinking, for example, Surface tension allows some insects to run on the surface of the water. Sorbitan monooleate has many applications.

In the same way between two liquids, for example, oil and water, surfactants also reduce the interfacial tension. It has found many applications in different products like wetting agents, detergents, dispersants, emulsifiers, and foaming agents as these are very crucial properties.

Containing both hydrophilic groups (groups that tend to dissolve in water are attracted by water) and hydrophobic (groups that do not like water, or are repelled by water) surfactants are usually organic compounds in general.

While the hydrophilic part is known as the head of the molecule the hydrophobic part is also known as the tail. Forming different structures in water such as micelles, their hydrophobic groups tend to aggregate while their hydrophilic groups dissolve when they are placed in water. Sorbitan oleate is preferred for industrial use.

Surfactants are emulsifiers. Capable of dispersing one liquid into another immiscible liquid, for example, water into oil, Emulsifiers are substances. When you try to mix water and oil, they never mixed.

Take as an example when you are washing your dishes what happens; you are able to mix the oil with water only after you place a product containing an emulsifier like soap thus removing from your dishes the residual oily products.

Since the micelles are soluble in water the oily substance like polypropylene glycol, which is hydrophobic gets trapped into the micelles core as the tail of the surfactant and the oily substance can be removed.

Mainly to reduce the irritation that other purely ionic surfactants can cause Cocamidopropyl betaine is used in many cosmetics, soaps, and shampoos as this is an amphoteric molecule. Making it use suitable for a range of personal sanitary products it is also an antiseptic.