soap and detergent | Chemistry, Properties, & Facts ...
Sep 08, 2020·The first detergent (or surface-active agent) was soap. In a strictly chemical sense, any compound formed by the reaction of a water-insoluble fatty acid with an organic base or an alkali metal may be called a soap. Practically, however, the soap industry is concerned mainly with those water-soluble soaps that result from the interaction between fatty acids and alkali metals.