The existence of soap, the original cleansing agent, has been known
for many centuries and the active ingredient, the fatty acid carboxylate
salt in various forms can rightly claim to represent the first category
of surface active agents in regular use.
The name of turkey red oil has had a place in organic chemistry
journals and text books for over a century in the context of mordant
dyeing, while products such as alkyl sulfates, alkyl sulfonates and
secondary olefme sulfonates achieved commercial significance in a
number of industrial fields in the inter-war years. During World War
11, ethoxylates, mostly derived from aromatic bases, contributed to
alleviation of the shortage of naturally-derived soap.
Serious growth began in the 1940s in line with the introduction of
synthetic detergents and continued rapidly both in quantities used
and in chemical categories of products available as applications grew
in other industries. By the 1960s, the industry as we know it today
had become established. Subsequently the rate of increase of new
surfactant types began to slow down but the number of manufacturers
steadily increased on a me-too basis and also as producers increasingly
established positions in countries outside their home-base.