A novel family of polymeric surfactants based on carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) was synthesized through ultrasonic irradiation.The experimental results show that the polymeric surfactants produced are block copolymers having low surface and interfacial tension

comparable to those of low molecular weight surfactants.The high molecular weight of the polymeric surfactants has only limited infulence on surface and interfacial activity.The excellent properties displayed by the polymeric surfactants result from the special blocky structure obtained during ultrasonic irradiation.CMC blocks contribute to the high viscosity and the surface active macromonomer blocks contribute to the high surface activity.