Applications of surfactants in living systems
The applications of surfactants in living systems are also being widely explored. Anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) is an auxiliary ingredient in gels for separating proteins; research on the use of surfactants as drug carriers, highly polymerized phenolic surfactants as bio-adhesives, environmentally-responsive surfactants for the preparation of smart soft materials, and surface-active proteins for assisting in genetic engineering are perfectly blending the ancient surfactants with the “century of living things”. The research on ancient surfactants and the “century of biology” is being perfectly integrated. In recent years, surfactants have also been used in the fields of flexible electronic devices, fuel cells, high-efficiency proton exchange membranes, energy saving and pollution reduction [27]. In addition, some surfactants also have various functions such as sterilization and antistatic. The diversification of surfactant properties has led to a wide range of applications. In addition to daily chemicals, washing, cosmetics, petroleum additives and other fields, surfactants in pesticide emulsions, mineral flotation, textiles and other industries is also very common, and thus has the reputation of “industrial monosodium glutamate”.
It should be noted that sometimes the demand for surfactant properties is diametrically opposed. As far as emulsion is concerned, some systems need to add surfactants to enhance their stability, at this time, surfactants are called emulsifiers; some systems rely on surfactants to break the emulsion, at this time, surfactants are also known as emulsion breakers; in the foam system, surfactants can be used to enhance the foaming performance (foaming agent) can be applied to the defoaming process (defoamer); some surfactants have good biocompatibility, and are used to enhance the foam performance of the foam system (foamer). Some surfactants have good biocompatibility and are used in food, cosmetics and other fields, while some surfactants have strong bactericidal effect and can be realized to be used in antiseptic system. In short, the needs of people’s daily life and industrial and agricultural production are diversified, and should be analyzed on a case-by-case basis when choosing specific surfactants.
At the same time, in addition to the surfactants can play an important role in the case of a single component, different surfactant molecules can produce synergistic effect, resulting in 1 + 1 > 2 effect. Typical examples are anionic/cationic surfactant compounding system
hydrocarbon/fluorocarbon surfactant compounding system, anionic/nonionic surfactant compounding system and so on. In addition, surfactants can also play a more important role together with biomolecules, natural products, synthetic polymers and clays. For example, alveolar surface-active substances play a physiological role by lowering alveolar tension with the synergistic effect of lipoproteins.
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