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Determination of the degree of ethoxylation of nonionic surfactants by elemental analysis
Author(s) -
Diez R.,
Morra A.
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/bf02660584
Subject(s) - ethylene oxide , nonionic surfactant , pulmonary surfactant , chemistry , elemental analysis , oxygen , chromatography , organic chemistry , copolymer , biochemistry , polymer
This report presents a fast, accurate analytical method for the determination of the degree of ethoxylation of nonionic ethoxylated surfactants based on the indirect determination of the oxygen content of the surfactant using a C,H,N elemental analyzer. The weight percent oxygen is then easily translated into ethylene oxide (EO) content. This method was found to be fairly accurate in determining the EO content of surfactants containing up to 20 mol EO, which is equivalent to about 80% EO content in most common nonionic surfactant ethoxylates. A comparison of the results obtained with this procedure versus hydroxyl value and HI cleavage methods is also presented in this paper.