Synthesis and Properties of Disodium Mono-fatty Alcohol Citrate

Abstract

Abstract The long reaction time and low conversion of the existing technologies in indirect synthesis of disodium mono-fatty alcohol citrate constrain their industrialized application. Here, we developed a new technology and synthesized a series of monoester of citric acid salts different carbon atoms in hydrophobic group. The structures of intermediate and products were defined by infrared spectra and hydrogen nuclear magnetic resonance spectra. Their physico-chemical properties were systematically studied for the first time, including equilibrium surface tension, wetting ability, emulsification stability and foaming behavior in aqueous solution. The results show that ifs the number of carbon atoms in the hydrophobic group increases, the critical micelle concentration (CMC) decreases, wetting ability weakens, the foaming volume in hard water increases and emulsification stability for liquid paraffin and bean oil increases, but opposite for oil acid.