Chemistry in Everyday Life Test - 3

Cephalosporin and penicillin are commonly referred to as β -lactum antibiotics.

Factual

BHA and BHT are phenolic compounds used as antioxidants as oxygen reacts preferentially with them rather than with the fat in the food.

Alitame is 2000 times as sweet as sucrose.

Factual

Parabens are a class of widely used preservatives in cosmetic and pharmaceutical products. Chemically, they are a series of parahydroxybenzoates or esters of parahydroxybenzoic acid (also known as 4-hydroxybenzoic acid).

Parabens are effective preservatives in many types of formulas. These compounds, and their salts, are used primarily for their bactericidal and fungicidal properties. Parabens are active against a broad spectrum of microorganisms. However, their antibacterial mode of action is not well understood.

They are found in shampoos, commercial moisturisers, shaving gels, personal lubricants, topical/parenteral pharmaceuticals, suntan products, makeup, and toothpaste. They are also used as food preservatives.

Hence, option (3) bears the incorrect statement.

[CH₃(CH₂)₁₅N⁺(CH₃)₃]Br^- or Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide is a cationic detergent and the cleansing action is due to the cationic part of the molecule. Hence, it is called invert soap.

It is biodegradable.

The detergents used in hair conditioners are cationic surfactants (or quats) which have the tendency to stick to the hair, which is how they provide conditioning. Common quats are cetrimonium chloride or distearyldimonium chloride. They are used at levels between 1% and 5%.

Competitive inhibition is interruption of a chemical pathway owing to one chemical substance inhibiting the effect of another by competing with it for binding or bonding. An inhibitor is a drug that, resembles the normal substrate, binds to the enzyme, usually at the active site, and prevents the substrate from binding.