2 carbon position a preferred embodiment of this invention comprises diesters of the novel nonyl alcohol mixture with diacids common diacids that can be esterified to produce plasticizers include phthalic acid adipic acid sebacic acid and succinic acid an additional preferred embodiment of this invention includes polyesters of polyacids containing three or more acid moieties common polyacids that can be esterified to produce plasticizers include trimellitic acid and terephthalic acid alcohol derivatives useful as surface active agents are well known in the art synthesis and properties of common surface active agents are disclosed in handbook of detergents part f production zoller uri and sosis paul crc press 2009 and references cited therein the present invention includes surface active agents synthesized from a mixture of primary nonyl alcohols in which at least 80 of the alkyl chains are linear and at least 15 of the alkyl chains are branched at the 2 carbon position preferred embodiments of this invention include polyalkoxylates sulfates sulfated polyalkoxylates and ether amines of the novel nonyl alcohol mixture in an air free environment 1 5 kg of octene was combined with 67 g of phosphine modified cobalt catalyst and stirred overnight to dissolve a 1 gallon autoclave was purged with nitrogen and the solution added the reactor was pressurized with.