Micelles - the cutting-edge technology?

Whether in facial toners, make-up removers, or shampoos - micelles are everywhere. They provide the ultimate cleansing result - at least, this is what the advertising says. Is this true? Chemist Sladjana Baljak gives us an insight into what's behind the supposed 'latest technology'.

In recent years, advertising has suddenly been full of the so-called micellar water. In the meantime, micelles have also arrived in mouthwashes, shampoos, beard water, and detergents or cleansers and are even available as incense capsules. But what exactly are micelles??

What are micelles?

Micelles are surfactants arranged in a spherical shape. And what are surfactants? They are washing-active substances found in detergents, soaps, dishwashing liquids, and shampoos. A surfactant molecule consists of a hydrophilic (water-loving) and a lipophilic (fat-loving) part. If the concentration of surfactants in the water is high enough (i.e., if I have dissolved enough soap in the water), the molecules arrange themselves so that the fat-loving ends are close together and the water-loving parts project outward accordingly. Micelles are formed.

Micelles are not rigid structures but can change their arrangement. Therefore, the following happens during washing: The fat-loving parts of the surfactant molecule attach themselves to the dirt particle and surround it. In short, the same dissolves same. The polar hydrophilic end and the polar water attract each other, as do the nonpolar lipophilic ends of the surfactant and the dirt. This is now 'dissolved' in the water in the micelle and can thus be washed out. That is the whole process.?

How cutting-edge is this technology?

The first recipes for soap making are several thousand years old. But the principle is still the same today: In simple terms, an oil (such as olive oil) is saponified by reacting with an alkali. The resulting molecule is nothing other than our surfactant, which forms micelles in water. That's all that happens during washing and make-up removal.?

Sladjana Baljak is plant manager at LANXESS's hydrazine hydrate facility in Leverkusen.