Patent ID: 8431523

Claim:
An oligomeric acylated biosurfactant having from five to nine amino acids, of which three or four amino acids are lysine, and among the three or four lysine amino acids there is at least one dilysinyl dipeptide, wherein the oligomeric acylated biosurfactant conforms to the structure Acyl-Q1 w -Q2 x -Lys-Q3-Lys-Q4 y -Q5 z -Term wherein Acyl is selected from the group of myristoyl and palmitoyl Term is selected from the group of acid and amide w is an integer from zero to two, with the proviso that when w is one Q1 is selected from Leu, Ala and Pro, and with the further proviso that when w is two Q1 is Leu Ala x is an integer from zero to one, with the proviso that when x is one Q2 is Lys Q3 is a dipeptide selected from Ala Leu and Leu Ala y is an integer from zero to one, with the proviso that when y is one Q4 is Lys z is an integer from zero to two, with the proviso that when z is one Q5 is selected from Leu and Ala, and with the further proviso that when z is two Q5 is Ala Phe wherein the sum of x and y is either one or two and the oligomeric acylated biosurfactant has a critical micelle concentration of less than about 200 ppm in an aqueous environment of MEM Solution that reduces the surface tension of the MEM Solution to less than about 50 dynes/cm 2 .