Screening of Basic Properties of Amphiphilic Molecular Structures for Colloidal System Formation and Stability. The Case of Carbohydrate-Based Surfactants

Colloidal systems are bubbles, droplets, or/and particles
dispersed in a continuous media, which are encountered in
nature, biological system, and manufactured products. As site
of interfaces between at least two bulk phases, their formation
and stability need the presence of amphiphilic molecules.
Carbohydrate-based surfactants (CBS) take part of these
groups of compound having numerous attractive features: an
abundance of precursor raw material sources, an excellent
environmental compatibility, and a possible quasi-unlimited
design of their molecular structure and geometry by different
preparation routes. Numerous properties and activities
including the aptitude to form and stabilize colloidal systems
are therefore expected from a wide range of CBS compounds.
Screening of their interfacial behaviors, which govern their
functionalities in colloidal system properties, are then relevant
in fundamental and practical point of view. In this chapter,
interfacial properties of uronic acid-based surfactants are
presented as examples of screening approaches. Experimental
measurements of both dynamic and equilibrium properties at
air-liquid and liquid-liquid interfaces, as well as a computational
approach are reported.