The use of water as a solvent for chemical transformations and catalysis is not only a counter-intuitive original approach with respect to catalysis in traditional media, but thanks to micellar catalysis and the recent development of new designer surfactants, it is becoming an important real benchtop alternative to the employment of organic solvents. Micellar catalysis has received new focus thanks to the recent introduction of the so-called designer surfactants by the group of Lipshutz as surfactants specifically designed and tested for catalysis in water. In particular, the advent of the benchmark TPGS-750-M has really revolutionized chemical synthesis and catalysis in aqueous media, leading also to important positive outcomes suitable for industrial scale applications. The present contribution covers the preparation and the applications in chemical transformations and catalysis of very recent new designer surfactants. These are readily available and economic amphiphiles, mostly prepared from renewable resources, that are specifically designed and tested for catalytic reactions in water. In particular, different neutral designer surfactants are covered and critically classified and discussed.

中文翻译：

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最新设计的表面活性剂，用于水中催化

使用水作为化学转化和催化的溶剂，不仅是传统介质中反催化的原始方法，而且由于胶束催化和新型表面活性剂的最新开发，它已成为重要的实际实验台替代使用有机溶剂。利普茨茨（Lipshutz）小组最近引入了所谓的设计表面活性剂作为专门设计和测试用于水中催化的表面活性剂，胶束催化受到了新的关注。尤其是基准TPGS-750-M的问世确实改变了水性介质中的化学合成和催化方法，并带来了适用于工业规模应用的重要积极成果。目前的贡献涵盖了非常新的新型表面活性剂的制备及其在化学转化和催化中的应用。这些两亲性很容易获得，并且经济两亲性主要由可再生资源制得，它们是专门设计和测试的，用于水中的催化反应。特别是，涵盖了不同的中性设计师表面活性剂，并对其进行了严格分类和讨论。