Extracellular aromatic biosurfactant produced by Tsukamurella pseudospumae and T. spumae during growth on n–hexadecane

•Biosurfactant production by non-pathogenic Tsukamurella pseudospumae and T. spumae.•Surface-active molecules produced differ from known compounds within the family.•NMR and IR spectroscopic analysis reveal the presence of aromatic moieties.•Its amphiphilic performance varies within the production device used. Biosurfactants are surface-active agents produced by microorganisms and show increasing significance in various industrial applications. A great variety of these secondary metabolites are described to occur within actinomycetes, amongst trehalose lipids and oligosaccharide lipids produced by the family Tsukamurellaceae. This study reports on the production of not yet described compounds with surface active behavior by non-pathogenic Tsukamurella pseudospumae and Tsukamurella spumae during growth on hydrophobic carbon sources. Extracts of the purified compounds differ in terms of structure and performance properties to other biosurfactants described within their family. Infrared and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic analysis revealed the presence of aromatic moieties within the surfactant produced, which to date is only known to occur within phenolic glycolipids of some mycobateria.