Modern synthetic detergents were invented during World War I because Germany needed animal fats for explosives.

During World War I, the British naval blockade severely restricted Germany's access to imported oils and fats. By 1916, the German War Raw Materials Department prioritized animal fats for the production of glycerin, a critical component of the explosive nitroglycerin. This created a desperate shortage of traditional soap, which was manufactured through the saponification of fats and oils with an alkali.In response, German chemists Fritz Günther and Otto Meyer at BASF developed the first synthetic detergent in 1917. Known as Nekal, this substance was an alkylnaphthalene sulfonate derived from coal tar. Unlike traditional soaps, these synthetic surfactants did not react with the minerals in hard water to form 'scum,' making them significantly more efficient for industrial cleaning and textile processing.The technology advanced further in the 1930s when researchers at Procter & Gamble and IG Farben developed fatty alcohol sulfates. This led to the 1933 launch of Dreft, the first synthetic detergent for household use. Following World War II, the industry shifted toward alkylbenzene sulfonates derived from petroleum, which were cheaper and more effective.Today, the global detergent market is valued at over $130 billion. What began as a wartime necessity to save fat for munitions evolved into a chemical revolution that changed hygiene forever. Modern formulas now include complex enzymes and builders that trace their lineage back to those original coal-tar experiments in war-torn Germany.