Re: Tween 20 versus Triton X-100


Sil Horwitz (silh@iag.net)
Wed, 27 Jan 1999 12:38:49 -0500


At 08:55 AM 1999/01/27 -0700, you wrote:

>>>>

<excerpt>Triton - 100 as best I can determine is a form of polyethylene
glycol and Merck Index says it is a non-ionic detergent, dispersing agent
and emulsifier.

</excerpt><<<<<<<<

Triton X is a series of non-ionic surfactants created by Rohm & Haas. For
the record (at least theoretically) any non-ionic surfactant should work
in our photographic environment.

>>>>

<excerpt>Tween 20 according to our own Sil Horwitz is (pay attention,
there will be a quiz later!) sorbitan mono-9-octadecenoate
poly(oxy-1,1-ethanediyl) or Polysorbate for short. Merck says it is an
emulsifier and dispersing agent for internal medicines. They sound
similar and I am intrigued by the idea of Triton x-100 as there are quite
a few problems associated with the use of Tween. One is that it grows
mold after a while. I'd like to find a good substitute for Tween.

</excerpt><<<<<<<<

Yes, Tween is a sorbitol* ester, and unfortunately it is reactive. I was
not familiar with Triton X, but it should be superior. Personally, I use
polyethylene glycol (as does Kodak in many of its products), which is
available as a powder (PEG 4000) and is comparitively non-reactive.
Triton-X, being a PEG derivative should be equally effective.
(PEG=polyethylene glycol, also known as Carbowax, as well as many other
tradenames.)

*Sorbitol is a sugar, and the derivative Tween probably can feed mold and
fungus because of this. I cannot vouch for this; it is only a guess.

>>>>

Sil Horwitz, FPSA

Technical Editor, PSA Journal

silh@iag.net

Visit http://www.psa-photo.org/

Personal page: http://www.iag.net/~silh/



This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Sat Nov 06 1999 - 10:06:47