M.PHARM PPTs KL UNIVERSITY

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SURFACTANT CLASSIFICATION AND APPLICATION
PRESENTED BY GUIDED BY
SHAMSELFALAH A. H MR. A. V SURENDRA
2101580003
M.PHARM 1ST YEAR

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CONTENT
 INTRODUCTION
 SURFACTANT DIFINITION
 CLASSIFICATION OF SURFACTANTS
 PROPERTIES OF SURFACTANTS
 APPLICATIONS
 CONCLUSION
 REFERENCES

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INTRODUCTION
 The term surfactants is derived from the term surface active agents
 Surfactants can be found in a wide range of products we use every day such as personal
care products , cleaners , pharmaceuticals , enhanced oil recovery and paint.
 Fatty acid salts (soap) were the earliest surfactans developed by Man and was in common
use by the Sumerians .
 Modern surfactants are much more effective but still serve many of the same functions in
modern cleaning formulations s
 Other common uses include the use of surfactants to stabilize oil water emulsions such as
food products (salad dressings) and personal care products (lotions)

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Definition of surfactants
 Surfactants defined as a substance which at low concentration has the property of
absorbing onto the surfaces or interfaces of a system and altering the surface or interfacial
energies of those surfaces or interfaces.

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Classification of surfactants
SURFACTANTS
IONIC NON IONIC
TWEE
N20
TWEE
N80
SPAN
80
SPAN
20
AKYLPOLY
OXYTHYL
ENES
CATIONIC
ANIONIC
AMPHOT
ERIC

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Nonionic surfactants
 Nonionic surfactant is differ from ionic surfactants in the absence of charge on the
molecule.
 They are generally less irritant than anionic or cationic surfactants.
 They are compatible with other types of surfactants, but they may diminish the
antimicrobial activities of some preservatives.
 The characteristics of non-ionic surfactants are essentially dependent on the proportion of
hydrophilic or hydrophobic groups in the molecule.
 The hydrophilic parts contains the polyoxyethylene,polyoxypropylene,or polyol derivatives
and the hydroxyl group, the hydrophobic part includes saturated or unsaturated fatty acids.

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 By varying the number of hydrophilic groups or the length of the lipophilic chain,
compounds are obtained with a wide range of hydrophilic –lipophilic balance (HLB) values.
 Examples of nonionic surfactants:
 Tween 80
 Tween 20
 Span 60
 Span 20
 Ppolyoxymethylene
 Polyoxypropylene

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Ionic surfactants
 It is different from non-ionic surfactant because it can carry a positive or negative charge.
 Ionic surfactant classifies into:
 Cationic surfactants.
 Anionic surfactants
 Amphoteric
Cationic surfactans
o The cationic group has a positively charged cation
o Negatively charged products strongly absorb cationic surfactants, some such products
include hair , skin , and microorganism.

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These type of surfactants are important pharmaceutically because of their bactericidal
properties.
Anionic surfactants
 Anionic surfactants are those that carry a negative charge on the hydrophilic part.
 The major classes of anionic surfactants used in this field are those containing carboxylate
, sulfate , and sulfonate ions.
 The most frequently allied cations are sodium , calcium , magnesium , and zinc, multivalent
ions producing marked water insolubility.
 Depending on the chemical class and concentration , this group of surfactants may be
irritating in certain conditions.

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Amphoteric surfactans
• This class of surfactants includes those that carry both positive and negative charges.
• Depending on the pH of the preparation , this group behaves as a cationic , anionic , or non-
ionic species.
• In the cosmetics field , these surfactants are frequently applied in skin or hair formulations
as relatively mild detergents.
• They are also used for their capacity for reducing the irritation of anionic surfactants.
• These surfactants are commonly accepted to be non-irritant to the eyes and have
consequently been used in baby shampoos.

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Properties of surfactants
 Reducing surface tension
 Water , for instance , has a very high natural surface tension (with air) which is what
enables small insects to walk on its surface or a paper clip to float on it .
 If a few drops of surfactant were added to the water , a large decrease in the tension
between water and air results , meaning that the insect or the paper clip would sink.
 A similarly remarkable effect can be seen in the interaction between dirt (oil or fat) and
water in cleaning processes , introducing surfactant , in the form of a detergent , into the
process reduces interfacial tension between the water and soil , helping to release the dirt
and keep it suspended in water so that it can be flushed or rinsed away

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 That’s exactly (but not only) what surfactants do every time you wash your face or hair, do
the laundry, clean the dishes, mop the floors or wipe down the kitchen.
 In virtually every detergent or cleaning product is a smart surfacatant designed specifically
to make the task easier, more effective and more efficient.
Special molecular structure
 The unique properties of surfactants (i.e. Their ability to mobilise and mix naturally
opposing or immiscible substances) are the result of their special molecular structure.
 Think of a surfactant molecule as a matchstick , with the thick end being the head and the
thin end being the tail.
 This head is water-soluble (hydrophilic) but oil-insoluble, whereas the tail is water-
insoluble (hydrophobic) but oil-soluble.
 When added to water as part of detergent or cleaning formulation , surfactants form
structures called micelles are small spheres made of surfactant molecules where the tails
attract and trap oil molecules while the heads of the micelles suspend them in water.

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Other useful properties
 In addition to lowering surface and interfacial tension, and rendering soluble what is
insoluble, surfactants also have anumber of other useful properties including:
 emulsifying or dispersing power
 Wetting
 Foaming
 Suspending/stabilising power
 These properties are utlised in many everyday products-just imagine a day without
surfactants :toothpaste would not foam while cleaning your teeth, nor rinse off properly
after brushing , there would be no shaving foam at all and not only would face and sun
cream look unappealing, there would be no way for them to be absorbed on the surface of
the skin , and there would be no such thing as a relaxing foam bath.

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Applications of surfactants
 Home care
 Fabric conditioners
 Dishwashing detergents
 Hard floor and surface cleaners
 glass , carpet , oven , cleansers
 Air freshneres
 Car shampoo
 Personal care
 Skin creams and lotion
 Shampoo and conditioner

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 Body wash
 Liquid soap
 Tooth paste
 Sunscreen
 Shaving foam and gel
 Hair gel
 Deodorant
 Cosmetics
 Health care
 Tablets
 Capsules

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 Syrup
 Creams
 Ear and eye drops
 Inhalers and aerosols
 Mouthwashes
 Industrial and institutional cleaning
 Hospital , schools , restaurant , office and industrial facility cleansing
 Commercial dishwashing
 Dry cleansing
 Aircraft cleansing

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 Crop care
 Herbicides
 Fungicides
 Insecticides
 Fertilisers
 Industrial uses
 Metal processing
 Pulp and paper processing
 Minig
 Oil production
 Paints and coating
 Petrolium productts

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Conculsion
 as aresult , surfactant are one of the most widely used groups of chemical substances in
daily life.
 More than two million tonnes of surfactants are now being used in Western Europe alone
each year.
 Soap , the most basic form of surfactants , has been used as a cleaning agent since 2.500 BC
but it was not until the early 19th century that the true nature of soap was chemically
decoded to stablish a connection between its molecular structure and its cleansing efect.
 This led to the rapid innovation and development of other substances with similar but much
improved surfactants properties.

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References
1. Pharmaceutical emulsions and suspensions , edited by , Francoise Nielloud , Gilberte
Marti.
2. Handbook of pharmaceutical Excipients , sixth edition , edited by Raymond C Rowe , Paul J
Sheskey and Marian E. Quinn.
3. Alfred Martin , James Swarbic , Arthur Cammarata et.al , Varghese publishing House , 3rd
edition , 1992 , page no. 355-384.
4. C.V.S Subharmanyam , A textbook of physical pharmaceutics , Vallabh Prakashan , second
edition , 2000 , page no. 128 to 153.

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THANK YOU