Title: detergent
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - detergent
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.D01643
Status: current

Definition
A surfactant (or a mixture containing one or more surfactants) having cleaning properties in dilute solutions (soaps are surfactants and detergents).

Related Terms
- dilute solutions: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/D01739
- surfactant: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/S06194

Source
- PAC, 1972, 31, 577. 'Manual of Symbols and Terminology for Physicochemical Quantities and Units, Appendix II: Definitions, Terminology and Symbols in Colloid and Surface Chemistry' on page 612 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac197231040577)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/D01643/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/D01643/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/D01643/xml

Citation: Citation: 'detergent' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.D01643
License: The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) for individual terms.
Collection: If you are interested in licensing the Gold Book for commercial use, please contact the IUPAC Executive Director at executivedirector@iupac.org .
Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.
Accessed: 2026-07-23T20:40:38+00:00