Natural deep eutectic solvents can be used to produce an interesting biosurfactant in a more sustainable way without organic solvents, Antwerp researchers write in the European Journal of Organic Chemistry.

Mannosylerythritol lipids (MELs) form a potentially green and circular class of biosurfactants, molecules with biomedical and cosmetic applications, among others, that have a hydrophilic head and a hydrophobic tail. Green and circular because they can be made from vegetable oil using microorganisms.

So far, this has been done in organic solvents, but researchers at the University of Antwerp wanted to know if it could be done just as efficiently in natural deep eutectic solvents (NADES). Attila Kovács, a postdoctoral researcher in the Intelligence in Processes, Advanced Catalysts and Solvents (iPRACS) group, is the winner of the Best Research Article by an Early Career Researcher award for this work.