| abstract |
A nonionic surfactant comprising an aliphatic alcohol alkylene oxide adduct (A), directly produced by adding an alkylene oxide (b1) to an aliphatic alcohol (a1), and satisfying the following (i), (ii) and (iii): n (i) comprising one compound, or a mixture of two or more n R 1 O—[(C 2 H 4 O) m /(AO) n ]—(C 2 H 4 O) p —H (1) n (ii) having a ratio Mw/Mn within the specific range; and n (iii) having a distribution constant (c), determined by the following equation (4), of 1.0 or less: n c =( v+n 0 /n 00 −1)/[Ln( n 00 /n 0 )++ n 0 /n 00 −1] (4). n This invention provides an aliphatic alcohol alkylene oxide adduct, having surface activities comparable to alkylphenol-based nonionic surfactants and moreover having no fear of environmental endocrine disrupters like alkylphenol-based nonionic surfactants. n This invention provides a detergent composition using the above anionic surfactant and having excellent detergency. |