  sodium laureth sulfate, or sodium lauryl ether sulfate (sles), is an anionic detergent and surfactant found in many personal care products (soaps, shampoos, toothpaste etc.). sles is an inexpensive and very effective foaming agent.kurt kosswig,"surfactants" in ullmann's encyclopedia of industrial chemistry, wiley-vch, 2005, weinheim.  sles, sls, als and sodium pareth sulfate are surfactants that are used in many cosmetic products for their cleansing and emulsifying properties. they behave similarly to soap. == chemical structure == its chemical formula is ch3(ch2)10ch2(och2ch2)noso3na. sometimes the number represented by n is specified in the name, for example laureth-2 sulfate. the product is heterogeneous in the number of ethoxyl groups, where n is the mean. it is common for commercial products for n= 3. sles is prepared by ethoxylation of dodecyl alcohol. the resulting ethoxylate is converted to a half ester of sulfuric acid, which is neutralized by conversion to the sodium salt. the related surfactant sodium lauryl sulfate (also known as sodium dodecyl sulfate or sds) is produced similarly, but without the ethoxylation step. sls and ammonium lauryl sulfate (als) are commonly used alternatives to sles in consumer products. == toxicology == === irritation === sles is an irritant like many other detergents, with the irritation increasing with concentration. it has also been shown that sles causes eye or skin irritation in experiments done on animals and humans. the related surfactant sls is a known irritant,{{cite journal|author=agner t |title=susceptibility of atopic dermatitis patien
Anionic_surfactants Cosmetics_chemicals Ethers Household_chemicals Organosulfates Sodium_compounds