Nonionic amphiphilic compounds of glycerol containing only one lipophilic chain attached to a hydrophilic chain, and which are of the formulae: ##STR2## in which R1 is an alkyl radical and n is a number below 10, and ##STR3## where R2 is an alkyl radical and n is a number not exceeding 5, are already known from French Patents 1,477,048 and 1,484,723.