Non-ionic biodegradable surfactants can be obtained by reacting amino aldit
ol derivatives with fatty acids in the presence of lipases in organic media
. Such surfactants in contrast to ester bonds. containing an amide bond are
stable under alkaline conditions. Thr efficient coupling of N-methyl-gluca
mine to oleic acid can be catalysed with Lipozyme in hexane or with Novozym
in 2-methyl-2-butanol as solvents. In the first case, the acid/base ratio
controls both kinetics and chemo-selectivity of the reaction. In the second
case, the adoption of acid base conditions allow control of the chrmo-sele
ctivity of the reaction. This reaction can also be completed by using trigl
ycerides or Fatty acid esters as acyl donors, which opens the way to the va
lorization of plant oils for surfactant synthesis.