Sulfonic acids, C14-17-sec-alkane, sodium salts

CAS 97489-15-1

C14-17 secondary alkane sulfonates show how one functional group can change a material's identity. Sulfoxidation adds a sulfonate head to largely linear paraffin chains, creating an anionic surfactant whose hydrocarbon portion associates with grease while the ionic head remains in water. The commercial product is a mixture of chain lengths and positional isomers - a reminder that many industrial surfactants are molecular families, not single structures.