Hey everybody Dr. O here in this video today we are gonna talk about a couple separate things were gonna talk about the surfactants but were gonna talk about soap separately then were gonna talk about quaternary ammonium compounds which are um some of the most commonly used cleaners in the world so first um surfactants what they do is they lower surface tension just like surfactant in your lung does uh lungs uh do they are the major ingredient in both soaps and detergents so I actually didn’t know this too long ago but uh soaps and detergents are differents soaps are natural they come from they are bi-product of fats but they leave especially if you have hard water that has a lot of minerals in it like calcium and magnesium that’s why they leave this soap film detergents don’t do that because they are synthetic and they’re able to their able their able to wipe wash these things away so I saw that and an example in the chemistry lab so soaps and detergents are not the same thing first of all just soaps uh soaps is a terrible antimicrobial right soap is effective because it physically degerms or removes microbes so if I were to ever ask you on an exam or something about soap right soap isn’t an antibacterial unless you talk to about an antibacterial soap soap is a effective though because it physically removes and washes away and degerms so soap is a degerming agent alright when it comes to the detergent there are different types and detergents and anionic and cationic detergents but we only care about the one major group they would be called cationic detergent but I don’t think it’s a huge deal this very important disinfactant they are called quaternary ammonium compounds just call them the quaternary ammounium salts here there referred to as quats usually as long as someone is talking about a quat they are talking about a quaternary ammonium compound so this is how It works this is what makes it amazing here are two examples cetylpyridinium chloride and benzalkonium chloride is assuming the two most importants quats they actually can insert themselves like you see in this wonderful picture they insert themselves right into the plasma membrane and disrupt it so that’s gonna be how they work their their they disrupting the phospholipids lipid bilayer of the cell right there by inserting themselves right where the phospholipids should be sitting so where these used man they are all over the place many of you many of your Lysol branded products gonna have benozyl chloride your seeing it more and more especially as triclosan being removed from a lot of your anti products your seeing more of these quats being added to these things so their on your skin anaceptics annomious so they are replacing alcohol some of your hand sanitizer more oral rinses mouth washes you name it so and like I mentioned before these quadietrion compounds are often the most commonly know cleaning in the healthcare setting so you are most likely working with some form of a quat alright that so that is soap and as a surfacted and degerming agent and the quaternary ammonium compounds or the quats both both get rid of microbes soap just physical removes them the quats are actually can be disinfectants and antiseptics alright I hope this helps have a wonderful day be blessed.