The Nutrition Innovation Centre for Food and Health (NICHE), School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Life and Health Sciences, Ulster University, Coleraine BT52 1SA, UK.
Pharmaceutical Science Research Group, Biomedical Science Research Institute, Ulster University, Coleraine BT52 1SA, UK.
Molecules. 2023 May 31;28(11):4463. doi: 10.3390/molecules28114463.
The 21st century has seen a substantial increase in the industrial applications of glycolipid biosurfactant technology. The market value of the glycolipid class of molecules, sophorolipids, was estimated to be USD 409.84 million in 2021, with that of rhamnolipid molecules projected to reach USD 2.7 billion by 2026. In the skincare industry, sophorolipid and rhamnolipid biosurfactants have demonstrated the potential to offer a natural, sustainable, and skin-compatible alternative to synthetically derived surfactant compounds. However, there are still many barriers to the wide-scale market adoption of glycolipid technology. These barriers include low product yield (particularly for rhamnolipids) and potential pathogenicity of some native glycolipid-producing microorganisms. Additionally, the use of impure preparations and/or poorly characterised congeners as well as low-throughput methodologies in the safety and bioactivity assessment of sophorolipids and rhamnolipids challenges their increased utilisation in both academic research and skincare applications. This review considers the current trend towards the utilisation of sophorolipid and rhamnolipid biosurfactants as substitutes to synthetically derived surfactant molecules in skincare applications, the challenges associated with their application, and relevant solutions proposed by the biotechnology industry. In addition, we recommend experimental techniques/methodologies, which, if employed, could contribute significantly to increasing the acceptance of glycolipid biosurfactants for use in skincare applications while maintaining consistency in biosurfactant research outputs.
21 世纪见证了糖脂生物表面活性剂技术在工业应用中的大幅增长。2021 年，糖脂类分子（槐糖脂）的市场价值估计为 4.0984 亿美元，预计到 2026 年，鼠李糖脂分子的市场价值将达到 27 亿美元。在护肤品行业，槐糖脂和鼠李糖脂生物表面活性剂已被证明具有提供天然、可持续和与皮肤兼容的替代合成表面活性剂化合物的潜力。然而，糖脂技术要实现广泛的市场应用仍面临许多障碍。这些障碍包括产品产量低（特别是鼠李糖脂）和一些天然糖脂产生微生物的潜在致病性。此外，由于在安全性和生物活性评估中使用不纯的制剂和/或未充分表征的同系物以及低通量方法，槐糖脂和鼠李糖脂的应用受到挑战，这限制了它们在学术研究和护肤品应用中的进一步应用。本综述考虑了当前利用槐糖脂和鼠李糖脂生物表面活性剂替代合成表面活性剂分子在护肤品应用中的趋势、它们应用相关的挑战以及生物技术行业提出的相关解决方案。此外，我们还推荐了一些实验技术/方法，如果采用这些技术/方法，将有助于提高糖脂生物表面活性剂在护肤品应用中的接受度，同时保持生物表面活性剂研究成果的一致性。
