Lipase catalysis and thiol-Michael addition: a relevant association for the synthesis of new surface-active carbohydrate esters.

A novel class of surface-active carbohydrate esters is prepared by a two-step strategy that takes advantage of the selectivity of enzymatic catalysis and the versatility of the thiol-Michael addition reaction. The surfactant performance of the produced aliphatic, fluorinated and silicon based sugar esters are evaluated by surface tension measurements. The novel thiolated mannose, made available in this work, appears as a powerful building block for the incorporation of unprotected sugar moieties into complex molecules.