Study on the interaction of alkaline protease with main surfactants in detergent

The effects of surfactants on protease with and without stabilizer boric acid were investigated in this paper. From the structural features of surfactants, we discussed the possible mechanism between surfactants and protease. Surfactants studied were anionic surfactants having varying hydrophilic group and nonionic surfactants having varying hydrophobic types and chain length. The results showed that anionic surfactant linear alkyl benzene sulfonate (LAS) has the biggest influence on protease, due to benzene ring in its structure; nonionic surfactant fatty alcohol polyoxyethylene (AEO) with more ethylene oxide shows bigger impact on protease; carbon chain length in alkyl polyglucosides (APGs) has less influence on protease. Understanding the reaction mechanism of surfactants and protease is essential for many industry uses. Especially the results provide references for the application of protease in laundry formulation.