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Hygiene and cleaning products : it’s foaming “green” !
According to Mesopotamian writings dating back almost 5000 years, we know that man has developed the first synthetic surfactants [1] via alkaline hydrolysis of animal fats or vegetable oils. Over the past two centuries, chemists have spared no effort to develop salts and neutral organic molecules with ever better surface-active properties to improve the standard of hygiene and facilitate the implementation of formulated products that are omnipresent in our daily lives. Fantastic !
Yes, but with 9 million tons of surfactants produced each year, 50% of which are household detergents, the planet is struggling to digest our waste, especially since the most efficient products often lack adequate biodegradability.
The well-controlled assembly of oligosaccharides with natural fatty alcohols that provide a hydrophobic segment gives access to neutral and biodegradable amphiphilic compounds [2], the properties of which can be adjusted to obtain emulsifying bases, foaming agents or detergents. The chemists from Reims, in partnership with researchers from the INRA [3], are particularly looking to use pentose derivatives for this purpose, thus finding new outlets for these major constituents of hemicelluloses extracted from agricultural by-products. Renewable carbon and biodegradability, two good reasons to continue in this direction !
Institut de chimie moléculaire de Reims, CNRS-Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne
[1] A surfactant is a chemical compound which, when introduced in a liquid, reduces its surface tension, increases its wetting properties and leads to the formation of emulsions, foams… For example, detergents are surface-active agents that cause the rupture of bonds between dirt and surfaces.
[2] Molecules that include a hydrophobic part ("which does not like water") and another hydrophilic part ("which likes water").
[3] French National Institute for Agricultural Research.
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