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Ionic detergents enable applications and cause harm in biospheres due to cell toxicity. The utility of covalent combinations between ionic and non-ionic detergent headgroups in modulating cell toxicity remains speculative due to the yet rarely explored synthesis. We close this gap and establish the modular synthesis of ionic/non-ionic hybrid detergents. We restructure a combinatorial methallyl dichloride one-pot coupling into a two-step coupling, which reduces by-products, improves product yields, and enables the gram-scale preparation of asymmetric, cationic/non-ionic and anionic/non-ionic hybrid detergents. Our modular synthesis delivers new modalities for the design of ionic detergents, including an unprecedented scaling of properties that determine applications, such as charge, critical micelle concentration, solubilizing properties, hard water tolerance, and cell compatibility. We uncover that shielding the charge in ionic headgroups can switch the detergent species that is toxic to cells from monomers to mixtures of monomers and micellar assemblies. Establishing the chemistry of ionic/non-ionic hybrid detergents provides a missing evolutionary link in the structural comparison of ionic and non-ionic detergents, enables an easy synthesis access to yet unexplored chemical spaces of asymmetric hybrid materials, and delivers new modalities for designing the toxicity of supramolecular nanomaterials., (© 2024 The Authors. Chemistry - A European Journal published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Detergent chemistry enables applications in the world today while harming safe operating spaces that humanity needs for survival. Aim of this review is to support a holistic thought process in the design of detergent chemistry. We harness the planetary boundary concept as a framework for literature survey to identify progresses and knowledge gaps in context with detergent chemistry and five planetary boundaries that are currently transgressed, i.e., climate, freshwater, land system, novel entities, biosphere integrity. Our survey unveils the status of three critical challenges to be addressed in the years to come, including (i) the implementation of a holistically, climate-friendly detergent industry; (ii) the alignment of materialistic and social aspects in creating technical solutions by means of sustainable chemistry; (iii) the development of detergents that serve the purpose of applications but do not harm the biosphere in their role as novel entities. Specifically, medically relevant case reports revealed that even the most sophisticated detergent design cannot sufficiently accelerate drug discovery to outperform the antibiotic resistance development that detergents simultaneously promote as novel entities. Safe operating spaces that humanity needs for its survival may be secured by directing future efforts beyond sustainable chemistry, resource efficiency, and net zero emission targets., (© 2024 The Authors. Angewandte Chemie International Edition published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Detergents are amphiphilic molecules that serve as enabling steps for today's world applications. The increasing diversity of the detergentome is key to applications enabled by detergent science. Regardless of the application, the optimal design of detergents is determined empirically, which leads to failed preparations, and raising costs. To facilitate project planning, here we review synthesis strategies that drive the diversification of the detergentome. Synthesis strategies relevant for industrial and academic applications include linear, modular, combinatorial, bio-based, and metric-assisted detergent synthesis. Scopes and limitations of individual synthesis strategies in context with industrial product development and academic research are discussed. Furthermore, when designing detergents, the selection of molecular building blocks, i. e., head, linker, tail, is as important as the employed synthesis strategy. To facilitate the design of safe-to-use and tailor-made detergents, we provide an overview of established head, linker, and tail groups and highlight selected scopes and limitations for applications. It becomes apparent that most recent contributions to the increasing chemical diversity of detergent building blocks originate from the development of detergents for membrane protein studies. The overview of synthesis strategies and molecular blocks will bring us closer to the ability to predictably design and synthesize optimal detergents for challenging future applications., (© 2023 The Authors. ChemPlusChem published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Ionic detergents enable applications and cause harm in biospheres due to cell toxicity. The utility of covalent combinations between ionic and non‐ionic detergent headgroups in modulating cell toxicity remains speculative due to the yet rarely explored synthesis. We close this gap and establish the modular synthesis of ionic/non‐ionic hybrid detergents. We restructure a combinatorial methallyl dichloride one‐pot coupling into a two‐step coupling, which reduces by‐products, improves product yields, and enables the gram‐scale preparation of asymmetric, cationic/non‐ionic and anionic/non‐ionic hybrid detergents. Our modular synthesis delivers new modalities for the design of ionic detergents, including an unprecedented scaling of properties that determine applications, such as charge, critical micelle concentration, solubilizing properties, hard water tolerance, and cell compatibility. We uncover that shielding the charge in ionic headgroups can switch the detergent species that is toxic to cells from monomers to mixtures of monomers and micellar assemblies. Establishing the chemistry of ionic/non‐ionic hybrid detergents provides a missing evolutionary link in the structural comparison of ionic and non‐ionic detergents, enables an easy synthesis access to yet unexplored chemical spaces of asymmetric hybrid materials, and delivers new modalities for designing the toxicity of supramolecular nanomaterials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article titled "Cover Feature: Trends in the Diversification of the Detergentome" in the journal ChemPlusChem explores the chemical diversity of detergents and their applications. The authors, Virginia Wycisk, Marc-Christian Wagner, and Leonhard H. Urner, provide a description of the detergentome, which refers to the entirety of all detergents. This description aims to assist with project planning and the synthesis of detergents for future applications. The cover design for the article was created by Leonhard H. Urner. [Extracted from the article]