Preparation of pH-Responsive Oil-in-Water Microemulsion Using a Full-Bio-Based Surfactant Containing a Dynamic Covalent Bond.

A novel pH-responsive full-bio-based surfactant (Ca-S) containing a dynamic covalent bond is synthesized using renewable cashew phenol, 5-chloro-2-furanaldehyde, and taurine. The structure of Ca-S is characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis. Limonene containing oil-in-water (O/W) microemulsions are prepared on the basis of the Ca-S surfactant and are applied to the remediation of oil-contaminated soil under low-energy conditions at ambient temperature.