Abstract: The invention relates to a wood-impregnating agent, which is an emulsion, dispersion or solution of a cationic, quaternary, amphoteric and/or special non-ionic surfactant, the surfactant or surfactants being poorly soluble in water and the dispersion or emulsion having a mean particle size diameter or a mean droplet size diameter smaller than 1 .mu.m. Preferable surfactants include cationic and/or quaternary surfactants or compounds from the group of imidazolines, benzyls, alkyls, dialkyls, monoalkyl-trimethyl, dialkyl-dimethyl, methyl-dialkoxy-alkyl, dialkylmethylbenzyl, diamidoamine and/or cationic and/or quaternary surfactants or compounds from the group of complex diquaternary compounds and/or the group of compounds which assume a cationic character in acid medium and/or non-ionic compounds from the group of fatty amine oxides, amine ethoxylate, and/or adducts of an ethylene oxide, which can be protonated on an heteroatom and/or amphoteric compounds from the group of betaines and/or ampholytes.

Abstract: The invention relates to mixtures of long-chain alkyl phosphates of the formula ##STR1## in which R is a mixture of C.sub.12 -C.sub.22, preferably C.sub.14 -C.sub.20, straight-chain alkyl radicals and C.sub.12 -C.sub.22, preferably C.sub.14 -C.sub.20, .beta.-branched alkyl radicals, and X and Y are identical or different and are hydrogen, alkali metal or an equivalent of an alkaline earth metal, ammonium, mono-, di- or tri-alkylammonium or an organic base, or X and/or Y are as defined under R. These esters are suitable as emulsifiers, in particular for oil-in-water emulsions of a cosmetic pharmaceutical nature.