Surfactants based on carbohydrates and protein

K. Hill, Surfactants Based on Carbohydrates and Proteins for Consumer Products and Technical Applications, in M. Kjellin and I, Johansson, eds.. Surfactants from Renewable Resources, John Wiley Sons, Ltd., Chichester, 2010. 

Surfactants Based on Carbohydrates and Proteins for Consumer Products and Technical... 

These phenomena obviously provide means of separating proteins based on the addition of appropriate surfactants, at the appropriate pH, with control of electrolyte concentration, and so on, and will not be elaborated upon here (see, however. Chapter 4, Section II.D and III.E). Subsequent to the above work by protein chemists it was found that similar precipitation reactions occur between cationic surfactants and a variety of anionic polyelectrolytes, those investigated being generally anionic polysaccharides (114-116). Scott (115), for example, found for anionic polysaccharides with weak acidic groups (hyaluronic acid, alginic acid, etc.) that precipitation with CTAB could be inhibited as a result of deionization of their carboxyl groups. With carbohydrate monoester sulfates, such as dex-tran sulfate, no such inhibition was observed. He also reported that the flocculation endpoint observed for this polyelectrolyte with CTAB corresponds to the formation of a stoichiometric salt. 

As demands placed on surfactants have become more stringent, new classes of materials have been developed that do not conveniently fit into the classical groupings of conventional hydrocarbon-based materials. These newer classes include those in which fluorine replaces hydrogen atoms on the carbon chain, silicone-based surfactants, and more recently so called biosurfactants that can be a witch s brew of protein, carbohydrate, and/or hydrocarbon units. 

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