Sugar fatty acid esters are biodegradable and biocompatible nonionic
biobased surfactants or emulsifiers, obtained from abundant renewable resources. They
have a dozen of applications in food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. In this
book chapter, we briefly reviewed the enzymatic synthesis of sugar fatty acid esters in
solvent-free system and their bioactive characteristics, including antimicrobial activity,
anti-tumor activity and anti-insect activity. In addition, we compared the antimicrobial
and antitumor properties of sugar fatty acid esters synthesized from enzyme with
commercial sugar fatty acid ester produced and purified from a chemical reaction.
Keywords: Anti-insect activity, Antimicrobial activity, Antitumor or anticancer
activity, Sugar fatty acid esters.
