ABSTRACT
Surfactants are unique substances made up of two entities or moieties of completely different nature in the same molecule. Because of the fact that the two opposing moieties of the same molecule enable the surfactants to reorient themselves at the interface of completely different surfaces, the surfactants remain active at the interfaces involving substances of different phases as well as of similar phases. Analyzed at the macrolevel, all systems (natural or human-made) can easily be categorized into two major groups, based on their polarity, as polar (water-soluble or water loving) and nonpolar (oil-soluble or oil loving or water-hating).
