ABSTRACT
Detergents are a unique class of compounds with special structural attributes. Detergents are amphipathic substances consisting of materials with structures having both hydrophobic and hydrophilic groups in the same molecule. For the purpose of understanding the behavior of detergents, the structure of a detergent molecule is described as a “head” attached to a “tail.” Basically, for simplicity, the polar or hydrophilic group of the detergent is symbolized as a “head,” whereas the nonpolar or hydrophobic group is designated as a tail. As the chemical nature of “head” is completely different from that of the “tail,” the presence of the two completely diverse groups attached to each other in the same molecule is bound to exhibit unique properties.
