ABSTRACT
Surfactants: surface-active agents are the most competent products of the chemical industry. These amphiphilic molecules proved out to be a boon in the household detergent industry as well as to the pharmaceuticals. No doubt surfactants have made our lives easier but when we look at it from a wider view, they have created a lot of environmental difficulties due to their toxicity. These drawbacks of the already existing nonrenewable surfactants inspired the discussions regarding green surfactants. In this chapter, we are planning to highlight the innovations in the field of green surfactant using flavonoids as the renewable raw material. The growing interest in natural antioxidants due to their vast contribution against diseases like cardiovascular, cancers, ulcers, diabetes, bronchial asthma and many more opens the door for studying a variety of flavonoids. The antioxidant properties of these organic moieties involve removal or capping of hydroxyl radicals, peroxyl and superoxide anions. Functionalized flavonoids are well known for its solubilization, dispersion, suspension and transportation capabilities. Due to the self-assembling of these modified flavonoids, they can be efficiently employed as surfactants, highlighting the scope of effective physicochemical interactions. This functionalization renders to micellar systems, which not only modifies the location, molecular planarity, electrostatic component distribution but also controls the antioxidant behavior of flavonoids. This chapter encircles such flavonoid-based surfactant systems that have shown unique applications in treating life-threatening diseases as mentioned earlier. Readers shall maneuver a detailed knowledge of five plants that are rich in flavonoids and are capable of acting as a natural surfactant.
