Cascading One-Pot Synthesis of Biodegradable Uronic Acid-Based Surfactants from Oligoalginates, Semi-Refined Alginates, and Crude Brown Seaweeds

• Published in: Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2023-07, Vol.28 (13), p.5201
• Main Authors: Pessel, Freddy, Noirbent, Guillaume, Boyère, Cédric, Arnaud, Sacha Pérocheau, Wong, Tiphaine, Durand, Laura, Benvegnu, Thierry
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acids; Alcohols; Algae; Alginates; Alginic acid; Biocompatibility; Biodegradability; Biodegradation; brown seaweed; Cellulose; Chemical Sciences; Composition; Environmental impact; Glycosaminoglycans; Hemicellulose; Hexuronic Acids; Mixtures; Monosaccharides; oligoalginate; oligoguluronate; oligomannuronate; one pot cascade process; Raw materials; Reagents; Seaweed; Seaweeds; semi-refined alginate; Sodium; Surface active agents; Surfactants; Uronic acid; Uronic Acids
• ISSN: 1420-3049; 1420-3049
• DOI: 10.3390/molecules28135201

The present article describes a one-pot and cascade mode process using biocompatible/biodegradable reagents, for simply obtaining surfactant compositions comprising mixtures of d-mannuronic acid and l-guluronic acid directly from oligoalginates or semi-refined alginates (mixtures of alginate, cellulose, hemicellulose, laminaran, and fucan). Simple treatments of partial purification of the reaction crudes (elimination of the salts and/or the residual fatty alcohols) or isolation of the surfactant compositions result in sugar-based compounds having performance levels appropriate to applications in detergency. In addition, the challenging extension of this cascading one-pot synthesis technology to crude milled brown seaweeds was successfully carried out to provide promising surface-active compositions made up of alkyl uronate and alkyl glycoside monosaccharides.