Elsevier

Environment International

Volume 28, Issue 5, November 2002, Pages 337-348
Environment International

Biological activity and environmental impact of anionic surfactants

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0160-4120(02)00032-6Get rights and content

Abstract

The newest results concerning the biological activity and environmental fate of anionic surfactants are collected and critically evaluated. The chemical and physicochemical parameters related to the biological activity and the field of application are briefly discussed. Examples on the effect of anionic surfactants on the cell membranes, on the activity of enzymes, on the binding to various proteins and to other cell components and on their human toxicity are presented and the possible mode of action is elucidated. The sources of environmental pollution caused by anionic surfactants are listed and the methods developed for their removal from liquid, semiliquid and solid matrices are collected. Both the beneficial and adversary effects of anionic surfactants on the environment are reported and critically discussed. It was concluded that the role of anionic surfactants in the environment is ambiguous: they can cause serious environmental pollution with toxic effect on living organisms; otherwise, they can promote the decomposition and/or removal of other inorganic and organic pollutants from the environment. The relationship between their chemical structure, physicochemical parameters, biological activity and environmental impact is not well understood. A considerable number of data are needed for the development of new anionic surfactants and for the successful application of the existing ones to reduce the adversary and to promote beneficial effects.

Section snippets

Chemistry and physicochemistry

Anionic surfactants are amphipatic compounds consisting of a hydrophobic (alkyl chains of various length, alkylphenyl ethers, alkylbenzenes, etc.) and a hydrophilic part (carboxyl, sulfate, sulfonates, phosphates, etc). It has been established many times that the hydrophobic and hydrophilic parts readily interact with the polar and apolar substructures in marcomolecules such as proteins Yamaguchi et al., 1999, Xiao et al., 2000, and cellulose (Griffiths and Howe, 1998) or with the polar or

Biological activity

Anionic surfactants themselves show marked biological activity too either by binding to various bioactive macromolecules such as starch (Merta and Stenius, 1999), proteins (Nielsen et al., 2000), peptides and DNA (Marques et al., 2000) or by inserting into various cell fragments (i.e. phospholipid membranes) causing misfunction.

Adjuvant effects in pharmaceutical formulations

Anionic surfactants can considerably influence the biological efficiency of the active ingredients in pharmaceutical formulations (Gould et al., 2000) either by direct binding to the drug (Seedher, 2000) or by influencing the adsorption and absorption processes and the partition of drugs between hydrophobic and hydrophilic compartments in the organs and organisms (Yushmanov et al., 1994). The beneficial effect of surfactants on the dissolution rate and release of various active ingredients has

Ground and waste waters: pollution and purification

Because of extensive application, a considerable amount of anionic surfactants are released in the environment causing serious pollution of rivers (Odokuma and Okpokwasili, 1997) and sea Baglimieri et al., 1980, Romano and Garabetian, 1996 and can accumulate sludge sewage treatment flow (Holt et al., 1995). The concentration of anionic surfactants in rivers and lakes showed marked variation according to the season (Marcomini et al., 2000) and the distance of residential districts Inaba and

Conclusions

The advantageous physicochemical characteristics of anionic surfactants resulted in their industrial scale production and application all over the world. Besides the beneficial effects, they show marked toxicity and can cause marked environmental pollution. The molecular basis of their biological and toxicological activity is not entirely understood. They can bind to proteins modifying the activity of various enzymes or to other cell constituents resulting in misfunction. The quantitative

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the grant HP-206 from the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

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