生物表面活性剂

Renewable surfactants

生物基表面活性剂为非皂的两亲分子,其碳原子来源于每年都可再生的原料。近些年,由于环境方面的忧虑和市场压力,此类化学品在商业应用中已发挥更大的作用,而且大量研究用于探索新类型的表面活性剂。这里特别举例介绍了工业规模化生产或起始原料充足的生物基表面活性剂。首先,使用可再生资源作为表面活性剂的起始原料呈上升趋势;其次,广泛讨论了生物衍生的疏水物与亲水物的主要类别,以及有关生物合成表面活性剂的研发现状;最后,强调了由于生物炼制(biorefineries)化学的不断发展使得新的表面活性剂分子结构具有可能性——将木质纤维素转化为燃料有可能为制造新的生物基副产品提供支持。

Bio-based surfactants are non-soap amphiphilic molecules in which the carbon atoms are derived from annually renewable feedstocks. Environmental concerns and market pressures have led to greater relevance of these chemicals in commercial applications in recent years and extensive research has gone into exploring new classes of surfactants. Highlighted here are examples of bio-based surfactants that are produced on an industrial scale and/or are based on abundant starting materials. The trend of increasing use of renewable resources as starting materials for surfactants is introduced, followed by extensive discussion of the major classes of bio-derived hydrophobes and hydrophiles. Also discussed is the status of research and development with regard to biosynthetically produced surfactants. Finally, concluding remarks address the potential for new surfactant molecular structures as a result of ongoing development in the chemistry of biorefineries, i.e., that the transformation of lignocellulose into fuels is likely to support the manufacturing of new bio-based coproducts.