B. Abdellahi, Rémy Bois, S. Golonu et al.
Tetrahedron Letters 74 (2021) 153113
By comparing the obtained curves for four families of surfac-
tants (sugar-based surfactants and SDS/SLES), it was observed that
the minimum at the break point, corresponding to self-assembling
of molecules, for surfactants with a shorter alkyl chain (C8) occurs
at significantly higher concentration compared to surfactants with
a long chain (C12). This observation can be explained by the
stronger contribution of the hydrophobic forces occurring during
micellization. Surfactants with a longer hydrophobic chain can
self-assemble to form micelles easier and at lower concentration.
This behavior is in agreement with results usually observed for
conventional surfactants [31–34]. Overall, the CMC values of
glycolipids with a C8 chain were between 25.3 and 75.5 mM,
whereas for glycolipids with a C12 chain, the CMC varied from
Scheme 3. Synthesis of sulfated N-octyl and N-dodecyl-
amides derivatives 23–26.
D-gluco- and D-galacton-
obtained in 82–95% yield, were then sulfated following the same
protocol used for the glycoside and glycosylamine derivatives.
The corresponding 6-O-sulfate compounds were obtained in
4
2–69% isolated yield. As previously observed, the disulfate
2
.1 to 10.2 mM. The CMC of 14 GlcNC8S could not be determined
mixtures were separated from the monosulfated compounds by
reverse flash chromatography.
because of its high value and its limited quantity (Table 1). It can
also be noted that the ratio of CMC(C8)/CMC(C12) for different
families of surfactants, except XylCCnS, were of the same order
of magnitude, between compounds 11 and 16. This constant ratio
indicates the systematic and significant effect of the linear alkyl
chain length on the surface-active properties of the synthesized
surfactants, regardless of the structure of the hydrophilic sugar
part. This is comparable to the values of commercially available
anionic surfactants: CMC (sodium octyl sulfate, SOS)/CMC (sodium
dodecyl sulfate, SDS) is 15–16 [35].
For the synthesis of xylonamide derivatives 30 and 31, a prior
oxidation of xylose was carried out in the presence of hydrogen
peroxide catalyzed by gold nanoparticles supported on alumina
under microwave irradiation, as previously described for the syn-
thesis of glycobionate sodium salts [26]. These conditions gave a
good conversion of xylose into sodium xylonate (up to 85%), and
a moderate yield for isolated xylonolactone (51%). The basic condi-
tions used for the oxidation step catalyzed by gold nanoparticles
require subsequent treatment with an acidic resin (Amberlite
The data related to the surface tension at the CMC (cCMC) and
+
IR120 H ). Complete conversion of sodium xylonate into its lactone
the efficiency of surfactant adsorption (pC20) indicate that anionic
glycolipids have high efficiency in lowering the surface tension of
water comparable to commercially available molecules (Table 1).
Surfactants with a long alkyl chain possess higher ability for the
reduction of surface tension of aqueous solutions (higher pC20 val-
ues) compared to those with a short alkyl chain. This assumes that
the energy needed to bring C12 surfactant molecule from the bulk
to the air/water interface is lower. As can be seen, for glycolipids
form is difficult to accomplish, and a mixture of xylonic acid and
xylonolactone was obtained, thus giving a moderate yield for lac-
tone 27 [27].
The aminolysis of 27 with octylamine and dodecylamine in
methanol proceeded at reflux to afford xylonamides 28 and 29 in
7
6% and 65% yield, respectively, which were sulfated following
the general sulfation procedure to afford acyclic 6-sulfate xylon-
amides 30 and 31 in 64% and 69% yield, respectively (Scheme 4).
All of the sulfated compounds were evaluated for their interfa-
cial properties (described in the ESI). The surface-active data are
summarized in Table 1.
with the same hydrophobic chain length, the
cCMC varied notice-
ably. For example, this minimum surface tension changes from
À1
À1
2
8 mN.m (16: GalNC12S) to 43 mN.m (5: GlcOC12S) for C12
surfactants. This variation is undoubtedly related to the structure
of the polar part of the glycolipid (cyclic or open chain sugar)
and the nature of the linker between the hydrophilic and
hydrophobic parts. In fact, the change in flexibility of the hydrophi-
lic part can lead to various molecular configurations of the surfac-
tant. The structure of the surfactant layer adsorbed at the air/water
interface as well as the surface properties is also influenced [36].
If we compare the properties of glycolipids with C12 anionic
commercial surfactants, SLES shows the highest efficacy character-
ized by the lowest CMC. However, several glycolipids bearing a C12
chain (5: b GlcOC12S, 24: GlcCC12S, 26: GalCC12S, 31: XylCC12S)
possess lower CMC values than SDS. Furthermore, according to
the literature, the CMC of sodium octyl sulfate (SOS) is equal to
The most important applications of surfactants are related to
their surface-activity and self-organization in solution. Knowledge
of the adsorption properties allows evaluation of the efficiency and
performance of the surfactant system. The higher the level of sur-
factant performance, the lower the amount that is required and,
consequently, the lower the environmental and economic impact
produced. Detergents with low CMC, low cCMC and strong efficacy
in decreasing surface tension (pC20) are often considered as suit-
able for different applications.
The evolution of equilibrium air/liquid surface tension with
concentration of the studied anionic glycolipids is presented in
Fig. 2. A minimum was observed at the break point of surface ten-
sion-concentration curve for all anionic glycolipids. Usually, the
minimum in surface tension near CMC is related to the presence
of a small amount of residual impurities with amphiphilic proper-
ties participating in the surface tension reduction. For example,
this particularity is often noticed for SDS because of the presence
of residual dodecanol [28,29]. However, some authors claim that
the local minimum of the surface tension is mainly related to the
local maximum of the chemical potential, and does not necessarily
indicate the presence or absence of impurities [30].
1
20 mM [37] which is significantly higher than the CMC values
of anionic glycolipids bearing a C8 chain synthesized in this study.
Regarding the surface tension reduction ( CMC) surfactants 15
GlcNC12S), 24 (GlcCC12S) and 31 (XylCC12S) have similar perfor-
c
(
mance to SDS, whereas 15 (GlcNC12S) and 31 (XylCC12S) possess
equivalent performance to SLES. The data show that for studied
sugar-based anionic surfactants with
a C12 alkyl chain (5:
GlcOC12S, 15: GlcNC12S, 16: GalNC12S, 24: GlcCC12S, 26:
GalCC12S, 31: XylCC12S), the pC20 values are between those of
commercial anionic molecules with the same chain length (SLES
and SDS).
In conclusion, three sugar-based surfactants families, including
nine new sulfated compounds, were synthesized in one or three
steps and then compared with commercially available surfactants.
The synthesized sugar-based anionic surfactants were found to
exhibit interesting surface adsorption properties comparable to
those of commercially available anionic surfactants. As expected,
Scheme 4. Synthesis of sulfated N-octyl and N-dodecyl-
0 and 31.
D-xylonamides derivatives
3
3