Green Surfactants

Society is increasingly aware of the urgent need to find solutions to the serious problem of plastic and other chemical pollution in the environment. Surfactants have widespread use in all fields of industry, but many are not biodegradable. Research in green chemistry has resulted in the synthesis and development of a new group of biodegradable surfactants based on amino acids. Considerable efforts have also been directed to finding biosurfactants with new properties. In particular, catanionic mixtures, consisting of surfactants with opposite charges, have attracted growing research interest due to their synergistic physicochemical and biological effects. Biodegradable catanionic mixtures containing an amino acid-based surfactant and a biosurfactant have great potential for industrial and biomedical applications. This chapter will cover the most important recent advances in the study and application of biocompatible surfactants, with special emphasis on medical technologies.