Ethoxylation
chemical reaction
In organic chemistry, ethoxylation is a chemical reaction in which ethylene oxide (C2H4O) adds to a substrate. It is the most widely practiced alkoxylation, which involves the addition of epoxides to substrates.
In the usual application, alcohols and phenols are converted into R(OC2H4)nOH, where n ranges from 1 to 10. Such compounds are called alcohol ethoxylates. Alcohol ethoxylates are often converted to related species called ethoxysulfates. Alcohol ethoxylates and ethoxysulfates are surfactants, used widely in cosmetic and other commercial products. The process is of great industrial significance, with more than 2,000,000 metric tons of various ethoxylates produced worldwide in 1994.
Production
The process was developed at the Ludwigshafen laboratories of IG Farben by Conrad Schöller and Max Wittwer during the 1930s.
Alcohol ethoxylates
Industrial ethoxylation is primarily performed upon alcohols. Lower alcohols react to give glycol ethers which are commonly used as solvents, while longer fatty alcohols are converted to fatty alcohol ethoxylates (FAE's), which are a common form of nonionic surfactant.
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