Analysis of alkyl polyglucosides in industrial products by capillary electrophoresis with pulsed amperometric detection

Consumer Behavior and Fascinating Challenges on Household Laundry and Dishwashing

Intense research in household cleaning offers more innovative cleaning solutions. Over the half of consumers worldwide favor functionality over “natural” and “multipurpose” claims in household care products. Due to rapid urbanization, emergence of small pack size, current environmental pressures and price escalation of petrochemical feedstock, the demand for sustainable laundry and dishwashing products is developing rapidly. The user-centered researches revealed that the increase in per capita income and wide range of choices, greatly influence consumers interactions with products as expenditure for household laundry and increase the number of sophisticated consumers. Dishwashing accounts for barely more than 0.5% of total per capita expenditure. Low energy as well as water consumption, high performance values are very important for the consumers when purchasing automatic washing appliances. Multi-usability and efficiency capture continuously the attention of the consumers in large scale in the sense of economic viability, environmental feasibility and reverted interest to use traditional liquid and powder detergents. Brand value and integrity proves to be also surprisingly important. Researches revealed that many consumers prefer household appliances with low water and energy consumption. As per the statistics, since half of the total surfactant consumption belongs to household applications particularly dishwashing and laundry washing, the natural product based surfactants produced from biomass are expected to continue to drive cleaning market.

Alkyl Poly Glucosides (APGs) Surfactants and Their Properties: A Review

Alkyl polyglucosides are non-ionic surfactants consisting of a hydrophilic saccharide moiety and a hydrophobic fatty alkyl chain. They are synthesized from renewable raw materials and have excellent ecotoxicological profiles and are readily biodegradable. The alkyl polyglucosides are mixtures of homologues, anomers and isomers. The alkyl polyglucosides with a longer alkyl chain biodegrade faster than those with a shorter one. The short to medium alkyl chain containing alkyl polyglucosides are water soluble. They exhibit favorable wetting and surface tension reduction, electrolyte and hard water tolerance, great stability in wide pH range, synergism with other surfactants and act as hydrotropes and dispersants. The dermatological, toxicological, mildness and high compatibility to skin make alkyl polyglucosides superior to all other existing surfactants. They show good functionality in various applications like detergents, food emulsifiers, cosmetic surfactants, industrial emulsifiers and pharmaceutical granulating agents.

Electrochemical and optical detectors for capillary and chip separations

In separations in capillaries or on chips, the most predominant detectors outside of the field of proteomics are electrochemical (EC) and optical. These detectors operate in the μM to pM range on nL peak volumes with ms time resolution. The driving forces for improvement are different for the two classes of detectors.With EC detectors, there are two limitations that the field is trying to overcome. One is the ever-present surface of the electrode which, while often advantageous for its catalytic or adsorptive properties, is also frequently responsible for changes in sensitivity over time. The other is the decoupling of the electrical systems that operate electrokinetic separations from the system operating the detector.With optical detectors, there are similarly a small number of important limitations. One is the need to bring the portability (size, weight and power requirements) of the detection system into the range of EC detectors. The other is broadening and simplifying the applications of fluorescence detection, as it almost always involves derivatization.Limitations aside, the ability to make detector electrodes and focused laser beams of the order of 1 μm in size, and the rapid time response of both detectors has vaulted capillary and chip separations to the forefront of small sample, fast, low mass-detection limit analysis.