The significance of renewable resources within the chemical industry is constantly increasing. In the pursuit of sustainability, they serve as alternatives for fossil resources for which supplies are limited and which have a major environmental impact. A drastic reduction in the number of synthetic steps required to obtain high value products can be obtained by starting from molecules with a complex structure. Chemical modification of such important building blocks thus directly contributes to the sustainability of the process and the end product. Sophorolipids are interesting building blocks for this green synthesis approach. These glycolipids are produced directly by the yeast Starmerella bombicola from renewable resources through fermentation. They have been successfully commercialized as biosurfactants due to their surface-active properties, beneficial biological activities and high production quantities. A drawback is that, to date, their microbial production is restricted to only a few derivatives. Consequently, the variation in their surface-active properties such as hydrophilic/lipophilic balance or foaming properties is limited and their biological activities have not yet been optimized. A chemical modification pathway was developed to extend the existing set of sophorolipid analogues. The major microbial product, i.e. the diacetylated sophorolipid lactone 1 , was transformed into a sophorolipid platform molecule in three consecutive steps. This platform molecule was then used for the synthesis of a range of innovative sophorolipid analogues which can serve as green surface-active compounds.

Innovative sophorolipid analogs as green surface-active compounds

248th National Meeting (2014)

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