Plant-Derived Saponins: A Review of Their Surfactant Properties and Applications

Abstract

In response to increasing natural surfactant demand and environmental concerns, natural plant-based surfactants have been replacing synthetic ones. Saponins belong to a class of plant metabolites with surfactant properties that are widely distributed in nature. They are eco-friendly because of their natural origin and biodegradable. To date, many plant-based saponins have been investigated for their surface activity. An overview of saponins with a particular focus on their surface-active properties is presented in this article. For this purpose, works published in the past few decades, which report better surfactant relevant properties of saponins than synthetic ones, were extensively studied. The investigations on the potential surfactant application of saponins are also documented. Moreover, some biological activities of saponins such as antimicrobial activity, antidiabetic activity, adjuvant potentials, anticancer activity, and others are reported. Plants rich in saponins are widely distributed in nature, offering great potential for the replacement of toxic synthetic surfactants in a variety of modern commercial products and these saponins exhibit excellent surface and biological activities. New opportunities and challenges associated with the development of saponin-based commercial formulations in the future are also discussed in detail.

Easy Handling Preparation of Cubic Sulfur in Aqueous Extract of Sapindus rarak rinds

“…Some peaks are typical for organic molecules (Figure 5), which might come from the S. rarak extract covering the produced sulfur surface. It is already known that aqueous extracts of S. rarak contain saponin-type surfactants (Wisetkomolmat et al, 2019;Rai et al, 2021). A peak at 3419 cm −1 indicated the characteristics of O-H, and that at 2923 cm −1 was for C-H. A peak at 1652 cm −1 was observed for the C=C functional group, and one at 1049 cm −1 was consistent with C-O-C aglycone of sapogenin.…”

Sci: An Inclusive, Multidisciplinary Scientific Journal

“…The series of the Feature Papers Editors Collection Special Issues continues. In 2021, Sci had ten such manuscripts online and seven under consideration [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. In the Feature Papers Editors Collection 2021, we are also launching the "What's it about?"…”

Skin Cleansing without or with Compromise: Soaps and Syndets

“…Plant-based surfactants are naturally omnipresent in different parts of plants, including the roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruit, and seeds. Like any other conventional surfactants, they are amphiphatic molecules that constitute a diverse group of compounds characterised by a structure made up of phospholipids (e.g., lecithin, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylinositol), proteins or protein hydrolysates [ 36 ] and saponins [ 36 , 65 ]. Recently, it was reported that lecithin can be useful as a skin-friendly surfactant for application in skin care products [ 66 ].…”