Nonionic surfactant amides as soil wetting agents

Isomeric hydroxyethyl tertiary amides, RCONR′CH 2 CH 2 OH, where R and R′ are 7‐ 8 carbon linear or branched aliphatic groups, were oxyethylated to form polydisperse adducts containing 5‐ 20 moles of ethylene oxide. The adducts RCONR′(E.O.) x H were free of unreacted amide and contained minimum ester contaminant where R and R′ were branched. Ester content of the adducts does not change with time, but the monomer does revert to amide on standing. All series of adducts showed good wetting at intermediate chain lengths but instantaneous wetting only at short chain lengths where both R and R′ were branched. Good water solubility occurred at the intermediate chain length while maximum surface activity was found for short chain lengths corresponding to a hydrophile‐ lipophile balance of ~9. All adduct series were excellent wetting agents for cotton skeins and a burned over sandy loam. For this soil the adducts effectively promote wetting at 0.01% level.