Derivatives of glutamic acid as new surfactants

Starting from glutamic acid, different types of surfactants have been synthesised by using original trimodular strategies. Monosubstituted zwitterionic amides of glutamic acid obtained with excellent yields show good surface activity. The grafting of a second hydrophobic side-chain leads to bicatenar cationic surfactants or to disubstituted nonionic cyclic compounds. In order to reduce the hydrophobic character of the bicatenar surfactants, a second synthetic method has been developed, allowing the introduction of a polar sugar group into these molecules. The surfactant properties of several of the products have been determined by physico-chemical methods such as surface tension measurements and compression isotherm studies by means of a Langmuir balance.