Sugar-based surfactants as alternative to synthetic ones

Abstract

From year to year natural surfactants are gaining ever growing awareness because of their valuable properties (in the absence of negative impact on the environment, as with the use of synthetic surface active agents). In the group of surfactants of natural origin there are surface active agents produced by microorganisms (biosurfactants) or compounds having a natural part (hydrophilic head and/or hydrophobic tail) [1]. This review includes the short characteristic of surfactants with sugar-head group in their structure called sugar-based surfactants. The structure, properties and some applications of these surfactants are described in this paper.