Sugar surfactants - aggregation, interfacial, and adsorption phenomena

The latest research work provides us with basic knowledge about some selected properties of systems containing sugar surfactants. Now we are able to understand the behavior of aqueous solutions reasonably well and very recently progress was made with respect to the properties of microemulsions. However, little is still known about the adsorption properties. Apart from the need for more fundamental research, the future task will be to handle more complex systems. Here complex refers to multi-component mixtures used in technical applications, but also to biotechnological applications where the structure of the surfactant is more complex. Promising future developments in this field are outlined. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.