Biosourced lauroyl poly(glycerol-succinate) oligoesters modified by copolymerizable solvents: A wasteless and eco-friendly surfactants properties enhancement

Biosourced oligomeric surfactants have been synthesized and characterized as potential alternatives to petrobased surfactants. The polar head was a branched oligoester while the hydrophobic part derived from fatty acid or fatty α-monoglyceride ester. Besides the glycerol (G) and succinic acid (S) units, the hydrophilic oligoesters were modified by a third comonomer (X) which was introduced as a copolymerizable solvent in order to improve its grafting with the alkyl chain and facilitate the processability. The investigated comonomers were lactic acid, ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, 1,3-propanediol and 1,4-butanediol. Modified lauroyl oligoesters, C12PGSX, with controllable sizes were thus obtained by polycondensation reactions. They were characterized by their acid values, gas chromatography and size exclusion chromatography. Their surface activity, foamability, wetting power, solubilizing capacity and biodegradation were investigated highlighting the interest of these biosourced surfactants in a wide set of applications.