Impact of the chemical structure on amphiphilic properties of sugar-based surfactants: A literature overview

Abstract

In this review, structure-property trends are systematically analyzed for four amphiphilic properties of sugar-based surfactants: critical micelle concentration (CMC), its associated surface tension (γ_CMC), efficiency (pC₂₀) and Krafft temperature (T_K). First, the impact on amphiphilic properties of the alkyl chain size and the presence of branching and/or unsaturation is investigated. Then, various polar head parameters are explored, such as the degree of polymerization of the sugar unit (mono- or oligosaccharides), the chemical nature of the linker and the sugar configuration. Some systematic comparisons between ethoxylated surfactants and sugar-based surfactants are also carried out. While some structural trends with the impact of alkyl chain length or the polar head size are now well understood, this analysis points out that systematic studies of more specific effects of alkyl chain (e.g. branching, unsaturation, presence of rings, position on the polar head) and polar head (e.g. linker, anomeric configuration, internal stereochemistry, cyclic vs. acyclic sugar residues) were scarcer or not available to date. This work encourages the use of these structural trends in the perspective of developing new bio-based surfactants and their consideration in predictive models. It also highlights the need of further experimental tests to fill remaining gaps notably to explore some specific structural features (such as the introduction of rings in the alkyl chain or the position of the alkyl chain on the polar head) and towards applicative properties (like foaming capacity or wettability).

Keywords: Amphiphilic properties; Biorefinery; Renewable materials; Structure-property trends; Sugar-based surfactants.