A substance that may break down naturally through biological activity in nature is said to be biodegradable. Contrarily, a non-biodegradable substance is one that cannot be broken down or degraded naturally. Long chain hydrocarbon molecules called detergents are employed as cleaning agents.
A detergent is a salt of sodium or potassium sulfonate of a long chain hydrocarbon. It has a general structure of ( and is composed of an ionic component as the polar head and a hydrocarbon chain as the tail (R is alkyl group). While the ionic component is water soluble and hydrophilic, the hydrocarbon chain is water-repellent or hydrophobic. Because a detergent includes sulfonate salts, it works well in hard water. Detergents function as surfactants by lowering the liquid's surface tension, which makes cleaning solutions more efficient.
Detergents that break down quickly due to the biological activity of bacteria are known as biodegradable detergents. They can quickly degrade since they have a straight hydrocarbon chain. Sodium alkyl benzene sulfonates, sodium lauryl sulphate, etc. are a few examples.
Detergents that are non-biodegradable are those that cannot be broken down biologically by microorganisms. This is as a result of the very branched chain they have. For instance, (1, 3, 5, 7-tetramethylloctyl) benzene sulfonate and cetyl methyl ammonium bromide.
Therefore, simple hydrocarbon chains may be used to characterise biodegradable detergents, while branched hydrocarbon chains are used to describe non-biodegradable detergents.
Hence, the correct option is (A).
