What are different types of disinfectant?

Disinfectants can be classified in two different ways. One is by what type of chemical they are. For example, the active ingredient in Lysol is O-phenylphenol. Phenol and some other disinfecting chemicals are chemically similar. Another way to classify disinfectants is by how many hard-to-kill microbes they are effective against. High level disinfectants can kill most endospore-forming bacteria which tend to be very resistant. There are intermediate level and low level disinfectants as well.