sulfonation

/ˌsʌlfəˈneɪʃən/
noun
  1. A chemical process that adds a sulfonate group to a compound, often used to make detergents and dyes.
    • The factory uses a special catalyst to speed up the sulfonation reaction.
    • Students in the chemistry lab learned about sulfonation by adding sulfuric acid to benzene.
    • Sulfonation is a key step in the production of many synthetic detergents.
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