Population and industrial growth are driving demand for surfactants, as they are widely used in various areas of human activity. The most commonly used compounds in personal care products -sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) and sodium laureth sulfate (SLES) -are very effective and inexpensive, but they can cause skin irritation and are not biodegradable. N-acyl aminoacids, in turn, are gentle on the skin and completely biodegradable. The synthetic routes described in the literature involve the use of highly reactive acid chlorides or harsh reaction conditions. Following the latest trends in sustainable chemistry, in this work we found an efficient, chemoselective, and environmentally friendly method for their synthesis, which involves the use of non-toxic enzymes as catalysts. Determining the most suitable starting materials and reaction conditions made it possible to achieve 97% product formation under mild reaction conditions.

This article is Open Access

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