mulation for a particular application. Further, it is an added The wetting properties of hydrophobized surfaces in the presadvantage if the surfactant is produced from renewable raw ence of alkyl glucosides have been studied using a Wilhelmy balmaterials. Of the most common natural raw materials, carboance technique, and the interparticle forces acting between such hydrates (mainly glucose) have gained renewed interest as surfaces have been investigated using the interferometric surface a source for making environmentally friendly surfactants. It force apparatus. The adsorption at concentrations well below the has been suggested that sugar molecules may replace ethylcmc is rather limited both for the anomerically pure octyl b-glucoene oxide as the polar group and that these nonionic surfacside and for the technical product based on the branched octyl tants could replace ethylene oxide-based surfactants in some glucoside, 2-ethylhexyl glucoside. However, the adsorption results applications. Alkyl glucosides are one of several surfactant in a decreasing surface hydrophobicity, and consequently the force needed to separate two such surfaces from each other is reduced. groups that meet the above demands. At the cmc for octyl b-glucoside, a surfactant monolayer is ad-Alkyl glucosides or alkyl polyglucosides, as the commersorbed on each surface. The interaction between the glucose units cial products are called due to a degree of glucosidation ú1, gives rise to a short-range repulsive force. Beyond the range of are, in the sence of production technique, more complicated this repulsive force a weak attraction is experienced. Addition of than technical ethylene oxide-based surfactants. Commercial a small amount of octyl a-glucoside does not change the shortglucosides are produced via Fischer glucosidation in which range interaction significantly. The technical 2-ethylhexyl glucoa mixture of glucosides is obtained. In this, the ratio between side surfactant behaves similarly to the anomerically pure sura/b monoglucosides is thermodynamically determined to factant at low concentrations. The solution with the technical 2-3. Consequently, a technical mixture is expected to have glucoside phase-separates at high surfactant concentration. It is different properties as compared to anomerically pure samobserved that under such conditions a thick layer is deposited on each surface.