DOI: 10.21776/ub.jpacr.2022.011.01.616 J. Pure App. Chem. Res., 2022, 11 (01), 9-30 30 March 2022 X The journal homepage www.jpacr.ub.ac.id p-ISSN : 2302 – 4690 | e-ISSN : 2541 – 0733 This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) Implementation of Amino Acid as a Natural Feedstock in Production of N-Acylamides as a Biocompatible Surfactants: A Review on Synthesis, Behavior, Application and Scale-up Process Widharta Surya Alam, 1* Sabila Gitamara, 1 Riki Wartakusumah, 2 Muhammad Irfan Nurdin, 3 Zuhrina Masyithah, 1 1 Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Sumatera Utara, 20154 Medan 2 Faculty of Medicine, Public Health and Nursing, University of Gadjah Mada, 55281 Yogyakarta 3 Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science, Mataram University, 83115 Mataram * Corresponding e-mail: widhartasuryaalam@students.usu.ac.id Received 01 September 2021; Accepted 30 March 2022 ABSTRACT The use of surfactants is extremely widespread for human life. The development of the use of surfactants has not reached detergents anymore, but for drug delivery, biolubricant, emulsifier, cosmetics, enhanced oil recovery (EOR), dispersants and even virus vectors. Unfortunately, the past history of surfactants had given a bad impression since many surfactants are difficult to decompose in nature, are toxic and are not suitable as biological materials. This article will examine the research development and production, syntesis pathway, classification, behaviour and application of N-Acyl amino acid (NAAAc) surfactants. Amino acid-based N-Acylamides (AAc) or NAAAc surfactants are next- generation biological surfactants. NAAAc can be synthesized by chemical and enzymatic pathway. NAAAc can also be combined with ionic liquids (ILs) to become green surfactants NAAAc ILs which is low in toxicity unlike conventional ILs. The conclusion of this article studied was NAAc production process that had the highest efficiency so far was the production through a catalytic chemical reaction, namely the fatty acid amidation or amino acid acylation process. The application of AAc-based N-Acylamides is so promising that it can be considered for scale-up processes in the future. Keywords: N-Acylamides, amino acids, critical micelle concentration, surfactants, ionic liquids, gemini surfactants INTRODUCTION High surface tension in hydrophilic-hydrophobic (fat/oil-water) formations can disrupt aquatic ecosystems as well as drug delivery in the body [1]. So we need an active agent that can lower the surface tension which we called a surfactant and act to unite the hydrophilic and hydrophobic components [2]. Surfactants are oleochemical derivatives that are able to reduce surface tension and interfacial tension in two liquids that are difficult to blend, such as oil in water [3]. The demand for surfactants in the world market continues to increase rapidly every year. Surfactant demand in 2018 reached 476,500 tons (2.21 billion USD), and it is predicted that in 2023, the demand for surfactant products will reach 2.69 billion USD [4]. This is based on the use of surfactants in various fields such as detergent, polymer, oleochemical, pharmaceutical,