Surfactants produced from carbohydrate derivatives: A review of the biobased building blocks used in their synthesis

This work reviews the use of carbohydrates and their derivatives as renewable raw materials in the production of surfactants. Methods to attain state‐of‐the‐art carbohydrate‐derived surfactants are described. This includes surfactants widely used nowadays and others that have not yet transcended beyond the academic field. Given the abundance of hydroxyl groups in carbohydrates and the considerable quantity of different surfactant structures that can be generated during their synthesis, selectively obtaining a target product represents a challenge. Therefore, this work focuses on the platform chemicals available to synthesize biobased surfactants. The first part of the review comprises a brief introduction of simple and complex carbohydrates to better understand their chemistry. Then, a description of the processes to obtain biobased building blocks derived from carbohydrates according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL, USA), and their usefulness in synthesizing surfactants is presented. This provides an organized inventory of the knowledge around the synthesis–production of surfactants from carbohydrate derivatives, emphasizing raw materials that could be inserted into the circular bioeconomy concept. Finally, the current industry trends and the potential role of biobased surfactants around new dioxane regulations are discussed. Production of biobuilding blocks and surfactants derived from biomass, according to the biorefinery concept.