Introducing Savie: A Biodegradable Surfactant Enabling Chemo- and Bio-catalysis & Related Reactions in Recyclable Water

Abstract

Savie is a biodegradable surfactant derived from vitamin E and polysarcosine (PSar) developed for organic synthesis in water. This includes homogeneous catalysis (including examples employing only ppm levels of catalyst), heterogeneous catalysis, and biocatalytic transformations, including a 3-step, 1-pot chemoenzymatic sequence. Savie frequently enables significantly higher yields than conventional surfactants, while obviating the need for environmentally egregious organic solvents.

The E factor at 30: a passion for pollution prevention

“…[57][58][59] Product recovery involved extraction with a minimum amount of an environmentally acceptable solvent, such as ethyl acetate, or precipitation as an insoluble solid with the amphiphile remaining in the water phase. More recently, Lipshutz and coworkers reported 60 the synthesis of a biodegradable amphiphile, Savie, and its use in one pot chemo-enzymatic cascade processes (see Scheme 4).…”