Glycine betaine as a renewable raw material to “greener” new cationic surfactants

This article describes the synthesis, properties and potential applications of new cationic surfactants based on natural glycine betaine and vegetable oils as renewable raw materials. Convenient procedures were developed on a multigram scale using environmentally friendly starting materials to provide glycine betaine-derived esters and amides. Some readily biodegradable formulations containing ester-type surfactant were found to exhibit remarkable emulsifying properties for road making applications and they are now under industrial development using green solvent-free processes. Bipolar bolaamphiphiles possessing two cationic glycine betaine moieties were synthesized as monomers for the preparation of original drug delivery liposomal systems.