Chemicals and Drugs

Soaps

Sodium or potassium salts of long chain fatty acids. These detergent substances are obtained by boiling natural oils or fats with caustic alkali. Sodium soaps are harder and are used as topical anti-infectives and vehicles in pills and liniments; potassium soaps are soft, used as vehicles for ointments and also as topical antimicrobials.

National Library of MedicineMedical Subject Headings2026

Structured Summary

Abstract

Sodium or potassium salts of long chain fatty acids. These detergent substances are obtained by boiling natural oils or fats with caustic alkali. Sodium soaps are harder and are used as topical anti-infectives and vehicles in pills and liniments; potassium soaps are soft, used as vehicles for ointments and also as topical antimicrobials.

MeSH Record

Classification

Broader headings

Related Concepts

Knowledge Graph

Loading graph…

Drag nodes to rearrange; hover to trace links; click a node to open its page.

MeSH Record

Synonyms

5 entry terms
  • Soap
  • Soap Solution
  • Soap Solutions
  • Solution, Soap
  • Solutions, Soap

MeSH Record

Aspects Covered

18 allowable subheadings

Indexed with the subheadings administration & dosage, adverse effects, analysis, chemical synthesis, chemistry, classification, economics, history, isolation & purification, metabolism, pharmacokinetics, pharmacology, poisoning, radiation effects, standards, supply & distribution, therapeutic use, toxicity.

MeSH Record

History Note

91(81)63; was see under SURFACE-ACTIVE AGENTS 1981-90; was heading 1963-80

MeSH Hierarchy

Tree Numbers

  1. D27.720.877w.265w.861w
  2. J01.516.872w

MeSH Record

NLM Classification

QV 233

AMA Style

References

  1. National Library of Medicine. Soaps. Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). 2026. Unique ID D012915. http://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/2026/D012915
  2. Soaps. In: Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soap
  3. Soaps. In: Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q34396