Surfactants with tetrahydrofuranyl system

A method for preparing an anionic surfactant of the general formula (I),

• in which R1 and R2 represent, independently of one another, H and SO3−X+, with the proviso that at least one of R1 and R2 is not H, n and m represent, independently of one another, numbers from 0 to 21, with the proviso that 4<n+m<26, and X+ represents a charge-balancing cation, by a) acid-induced separation of water from ribitol, arabitol, xylitol, or mixtures thereof, optionally b) introducing protective groups for the two vicinal alcohol functions in the tetrahydrofuran ring, c) reaction of the primary alcohol function in the side chain of the substituted tetrahydrofuran with an alkyl halide, c) removing the protective groups from the two vicinal alcohol functions in the tetrahydrofuran ring, if these were introduced in step b), and d) subsequent sulfation using a sulfating agent and optionally neutralization by subsequent reaction with X+OH−, X+HCO−3 or X+2CO2−3, in which X+ represents an alkali metal cation or a grouping N+R3R4R5, in which R3, R4 and R5 represent, independently of one another, hydrogen, an alkyl group having 1 to 6 carbon atoms, or a hydroxyalkyl group having 2 to 6 carbon atoms.

A washing or cleaning agent containing an anionic surfactant of the general formula (I),

• in which R1 and R2 represent, independently of one another, H and SO3−X+, with the proviso that at least one of R1 and R2 is not H, n and m represent, independently of one another, numbers from 0 to 21, with the proviso that 4<n+m<26, and X+ represents a charge-balancing cation.