Biosurfactants and bioamphiphiles, survey, perspectives and applicative potential from a colloid science point of view

Biological surfactants are amphiphilic molecules obtained from biobased resources, like plants, sugars and oils, using a variety of physical, chemical, biochemical or biotechnological methods. More specifically, the word biosurfactant, or microbial biosurfactants, is classically used for those molecules, like sophorolipids, rhamnolipids or surfactin, produced by fermentation. Historically developed by microbiologists and originally used as natural emulsifiers, recent trends in fundamental and applied research depict a set of molecules with a rich, and somewhat unexpected, physicochemical behavior making it difficult to introduce them as such in existing formulations. A broad research activity is then developing worldwide both in academia and industry with the goal of better understanding this class of amphiphiles with the ultimate perspective of introducing them to the market in fields as varied as detergency, cosmetics, pest control and medicine.