Some time ago, around the time fo the first lockdown, I have been contacted by some colleagues at KFUPM, proposing me to write a chapter for a book on surfactants. Since 1) I like writing (as you should have guessed by now, if you had a look at my website), 2) we were going to face a time with a lot of time spent at home, and 3) I felt flattered by the invitation, I accepted with pleasure. About one year later, the book was finally published, and you can find it here. My contribution is the first chapter, about synthesis of surfactants used for EOR applications. The introduction is very didactic, going through the basic of surfactants properties, inspired by part of my course in Interfacial Engineering, that I teach at the RUG. Then I describe general synthetic methods used to make anionic, cationic, non-ionic, zwitterionic, gemini and polymeric surfactants, with some recent examples. I'm quite satisfied with the result, I hope that someone reads it and finds it interesting.
