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A mechanistic approach to the thermal degradation of α‐olefin sulfonates
Author(s) -
Hu P. C.,
Tuvell M. E.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
journal of the american oil chemists' society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.512
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1558-9331
pISSN - 0003-021X
DOI - 10.1007/bf02544530
Subject(s) - alkene , olefin fiber , sulfonate , degradation (telecommunications) , isomerization , chemistry , catalysis , thermal stability , bond cleavage , thermal , cleavage (geology) , organic chemistry , photochemistry , materials science , thermodynamics , sodium , computer science , telecommunications , physics , composite material , fracture (geology)
Determination of the thermal stability of α‐olefin sulfonates (AOS) via the conventional activation energy approach was found to be impractical because of the difficulties arising from the fact that α‐olefin sulfonates are mixtures of hydroxyalkane sulfonates and alkene sulfonates. Each of these components of AOS was studied independently and found to follow a complicated thermal degradation path. We found that the thermal degradation of hydroxyalkane sulfonate is a base‐catalyzed process. At elevated temperatures, hydroxyalkane sulfonates are first converted into an intermediate which is still surface active before degrading further to a non‐surface active product by a second mechanism. The rate‐determining step of the degradation process was found not to involve a cleavage of the C‐S bond as observed for other types of sulfonates. Our work indicates that the first step of the thermal degradation of alkene sulfonates involves isomerization of double bonds followed by cleavage of the C‐S bond. The thermal degradation of alkene sulfonates is catalyzed by acids.