[ng]

hey

well during our industrial chem lecture we were given an assignment to undertake and it involved us finding out :
- raw materials used
- review of chemical processes in producing the product
- chemical reactions
- yeilds and how they can be improved
- economic safety and environmental issues

the chemical was:
(CH3)2CH[CH2CH(CH3)]3C6H4SO3-Na+
systematic name:
sodium [4-(1,3,5,7-tetramethyl octyl)phenyl sulfonate]

now dodecylbenzene solfunate is easy enough to find however i have had no luck in finding the exact chemical we are after. the lecturer told us that dodecyl.... is the wrong compound.

i have tried the merck index, kirk,  ullmann's encyclopedia of industrial chem., online and many other sources but have had no luck other than finding the process of alkylbenzenesulfonates which is helpful but will not suffice

would anybody please be able to help?
thanks

[Dude]

I would try to find the phone number of some manufacturers of dodecylbenzene sulfonate.  Call them and ask about branched alkyl surfactants and if they sell the chemical (try also referring to to the alkyl part as a "propylene tetramer").  As for the process, you will have to assume that it is analogous to the linear material.  No employee will discuss yields or process data to a non-employee unless it it disclosed in a publication.  

[ng]

thanks for that however the main problem is that we need to discuss the raw materials used and how the processes work which will not be disclossed by any empolyee as you said and as the lecturer stated "it's useless to call manufacturers"

[gregpawin]

Do you have access to scifinder scholar?

[ng]

no i dont... i dont even know what it is

the closest CAS number we could find was : 68608899 but apparently wrong.

EDIT: i just looked up scifinder and i dont have access to that program,

what really annoys me is that no company will release how to produce such a chemical so then how are we meant to find out the processes?

seems to me that the lecturer wants us to do his work for him :S

any other ideas

[DrCMS]

Grow up.  Why should a company give away its commercial secrets just to make your life easy?  Process details are hard come by knowlegde that the company has had to invest money to obtain.

However this compound is not generally used in the USA or Europe any more for reasons you will discover and which answer the final part of the question you have been set.

It is quite easy to search for branched chain alkyl benzene sulfonates and find the details you want on the web.

[ng]

yes it is easy to search and i have found many chained compounds except this one

well thanks anyway.

[DrCMS]

Look at the following:

http://nanoparticles.org/pdf/Salager-E300A.pdf

http://instruct.uwo.ca/chemistry/223b-98/lipid1.htm

http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/31/04714988/0471498831.pdf

http://dissertations.ub.rug.nl/FILES/faculties/science/1998/j.kevelam/c1.pdf

[ng]

thanks already knew it was a surfactant

i think we got the CAS number so should be quite easier from there

[DrCMS]

If you had bothered to read the links i posted you'd have found they all detailed the sythesis of the compound you asked about.