What are biodegradable and non-biodegradable detergents? Give one example of each class.

Explanation

Detergents having straight hydrocarbon chains are easily degraded (or decomposed) by microorganism and hence are called biodegradable detergents while detergents containing branched hydrocarbon chains are not easily degraded by the microorganisms and hence are called non biodegradable detergents. Consequently, non-biodegradable detergents accumulate in rivers and other waterways thereby causing severe water pollution. Examples of biodegradable detergents are sodium lauryl sulphate, sodium 4-(1-dodecyl)benzene sulfonate and sodium 4-(2-dodecyl)benzene sulfonate. An example of non-biodegradable detergent is sodium 4-(1, 3, 5, 7-tetramethyl) octylbenzene sulfonate.