8 - Sugar Fatty Acid Esters

Abstract

Sugar fatty acid esters, usually called Sugar Esters (SEs), are non-ionic and biodegradable surfactants. Because of their good stabilizing and conditioning properties, they have broad applications in the food, pharmaceutical, detergent, agricultural, fine chemical, and personal care industries. SEs can be synthesized by an esterification reaction between sugar/sugar alcohols and non-polar fatty acids. This chapter focuses on various methods of synthesis of SEs, physiochemical properties, and the uses as emulsifiers and fat replacers. It is well known that the usage of fatty acid esters in various areas is based on their special physicochemical properties. SEs are non-ionic surface-active agents consisting of sugar as a hydrophilic group and fatty acids as lipophilic groups. The carbon chain length and nature of the sugar head group, together with the many possibilities for linkage between the hydrophilic sugar head group and the hydrophobic alkyl chain, contribute to the unique physicochemical properties of sugar fatty acid esters. The chapter also presents a short review of various types of sugar fatty acid esters, including their production methods, properties, and primary applications in food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetics industries. Even though sugar fatty acid esters have been known for many years and a lot of work has been done on the application properties, many questions concerning the nature of these compounds are still open for future scientific research and applied studies.