Interaction between amphiphiles and water molecules in concentrated bilayer aqueous colloids

Interaction between amphiphiles and water molecules in micelle or bilayer structure has been investigated using aqueous colloids of various amphiphiles through the rheological data and the spin-lattice relaxation timeT ₁ of the proton of water molecule.T ₁ of the water proton has been measured by the inversion recovery method and determined as a single exponential relaxation process.The chemical shift of the water proton is almost independent of the amphiphilic concentration; however, it shifts toward a higher magnetic field with increasing temperature in a way similar to that in pure water and in the amphiphilic aqueous systems. These facts mean that there is no significant difference in the magnetic field environment of the water protons in these systems.The water molecule is not necessarily bound in the fully developed micelle or bilayer (rod-like or lamella) structure which induces the high viscosity or high rigidity of the colloidal system. On the other hand, the water molecule is bound in the micelle colloids of amphoteric amphiphiles or amphiphiles whose molecular assembly creates a relatively strong electrostatic field. The activation entropy of the bound water is negative and this suggests that water molecules assume some ordered structure in the bound state.     

Internal and interfacial structure of small vesicle in aqueous colloid of didodecyldimethylammonium bromide

The vesicle structure and interfacial structure of a two-chain amphiphile didodecyldimethylammonium bromide (DMA) in aqueous colloid have been studied by small-angle x-ray scattering. The radius of the DMA small vesicle is ca. 64 Å, and the thickness of the bilayer, which is the surface layer of the vesicle, is ca. 41 Å. The small vesicle has a core space at the center, whose radius is ca. 23 Å. The specific inner surface of the small vesicle has also been calculated and the surface area of the vesicle has been estimated to be five times larger than that of the smooth sphere.     

Conformational change of poly(L-lysine) and poly(L-ornithine) and cooperative binding of sodium alkanesulfonate surfactants with different chain length

Conformations of poly(L-lysine) (PLL) and poly(L-ornithine) (PLO) were examined in aqueous solutions of sodium alkanesulfontates (C_nSO₃Na, n=9, 10, 11, 12) in the presence of 0.02 M NaCl by circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy. These surfactants induce the-structure for PLL and the-helix for PLO. The binding of surfactants on the polypeptides was measured potentiometrically with a surfactant ion electrode and was found to be highly cooperative. The cooperativity increases with increasing chain length of surfactant. The behavior accompanying the surfactant binding and the conformational change indicated that the conformational change requires a certain amount of bound surfactants in the case of C₉SO₃Na and starts immediately on binding of surfactant in the case of C_{1 2}SO₃Na. The clustering of bound surfactants due to the cooperative binding as well as neutralization of polypeptides contributes to their conformational change. A slow conformational change of PLO was found in the time scale of hours, sometimes days, for C₉- and C₁₀SO₃Na at low concentrations, but the binding process reached the equilibrium quickly. This slow mode might occur due to the slow interaction between surfactant/polypeptide complexes.     

The aggregation behavior of poly-(oxyethylene)-poly-(oxypropylene)-poly-(oxyethylene)-block-copolymers in aqueous solution

Aqueous solutions of blockcopolymers, consisting of a polyoxypropyleneblock (POP) with a polyoxyethylene-block (POE) at each side, were studied using surface and interfacial tension measurements, static and dynamic light scattering and smallangle neutron scattering techniques, electric birefringence, rheological and DSC-measurements. The compounds were commercial samples and had an approximate average composition EO₂₀PO₇₀EO₂₀, EO₁₈PO₅₈EO₁₈, and EO₁₀₆PO₆₉EO₁₀₆. All three compounds formed micelles above a critical concentration. The size of the micellar core is determined by the length of the hydrophobic poly-propyleneoxide block. The transfer energy of a propyleneoxide unit from the aqueous to the micellar phase is about 0.3 kT at room temperature and hence a quarter of the corresponding value for a CH₂-group.The aggregation number of the micelles increases strongly with increasing temperature while the hydrodynamic radius remains constant in first approximation. The smallangle neutron scattering (SANS) data show at higher concentrations a strong correlation peak. Both the SANS- and the light-scattering data can be interpreted on the basis of the theory of hard sphere particles.Solutions with a volume fraction beyond about 0.2 gellifie when the temperature is raised above a characteristic value that is at the lowest concentrations slightly above room temperature, shift to lower values with increasing concentrations. Below this gelation temperature DSC-measurements show a phase transition with enthalpies between 40J/g and 80J/g, which is probably due to the dehydration of the PO-groups; this transition can also be observed at low concentrations where no gelation takes place. The position of the correlation peak of the SANS-data is not affected by the gel formation. Some samples, however, show clear evidence of long-range order and seem therefore to consist of cubic liquid crystalline phases. The shear moduli of the gels can qualitatively be understood on the basis of hard sphere models.     

Micelle aggregation numbers from colligative properties

An equilibrium model has been developed to derive micelle aggregation numbers n from colligative properties of surfactant solutions, with special regard to freezing point depression. The introduction of a mass action approach in the solute activity equation allows to get aggregation numbers close to those obtained from light scattering. The model can be applied with small formal changes to ionic and nonionic surfactants.     

Morphology and viscoelasticity of bilayer aqueous colloids of low-molecular and macromolecular amphiphiles

Aqueous colloids of didodecyldimethylammonium bromide (DMA), allylbis[2-(dodecanoyloxycarbonyl)ethyl]methylammonium bromide (ADM) and polymer of ADM (PADM) were employed for morphological and rheological studies.The polymerization was carried out by irradiation of UV-light for the monomeric colloid. Weight average molecular weight of the polymer is about 16.3×10⁴.Diameters of vesicles at critical micelle (aggregate) concentration were 8 10 nm in the aqueous colloids of DMA, ADM and PADM. Various bilayer textures which were dependent upon the concentration and the temperature could be found in these amphiphiles. In particular, the bilayer textures were full in variety in the PADM system.Rheological properties of the aqueous colloids of these amphiphiles depended strongly upon the bilayer textures.     

Structure relaxation after temperature jumps in homogeneous polystyrene/poly(styrene-co-bromostyrene) blends

Concentration fluctuations in polymer blends and their change after a temperature jump were studied by time-dependent small angle X-ray scattering experiments. Measurements were conducted on homogeneous mixtures of polystyrene and a partially brominated derivative. Structure factors in thermal equilibrium show the form given by the random phase approximation, thus enabling a direct determination of the-parameter and the mean radius of gyration. TheT-dependence of can be understood as the result of superposed enthalpic contributions and a free volume term. In theT-jump experiments, samples were quenched to temperatures near T_g. Relaxation occurs on the time scale of minutes and is nonexponential, becoming slower with time. Initial relaxation rates increase with increasing scattering vectorsq in accordance with theoretical predictions.     

Interaction of unfolded lysozyme with hexa(oxyethylene) dodecylether

Reduced lysozyme at pH 2.5 bound hexa(oxyethylene) dodecylether in two steps and the bound amount of the surfactant reached as much as 0.5–0.6 mole per mole amino acid residue in the cooperative binding step. Circular dichroism (CD) spectra suggested a change in the polypeptide main-chain conformation as a result of the surfactant binding, but little or no organization of the tertiary structure. The interaction most likely took place between the hydrocarbon tail of the surfactant and the hydrophobic domain of reduced lysozyme. Alkylated lysozyme, obtained from the reaction with iodoacetamide, gave an essentially identical binding isotherm to that of reduced lysozyme, but different CD results were obtained for each of them.This research was partially supported by a grant-in-aid for scientific research (No. 02403004) from the Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture, Japan, and also by Nippon Oil & Fats Co., Ltd.     

Swelling of poly(methacrylic acid) gels and adsorption of L-lysine and its polymer on the gels

Poly (methacrylic acid) gels (PMAA gels) of various degrees of crosslinking were prepared and the dissociation behavior of these gels was examined; the swelling behavior was investigated as a function of the solution pH values. A reentrant phenomenon of swelling was observed and interpreted based on the Flory-Huggins equation and the Donnan equilibrium formula. Moreover, adsorption of L-lysine, oligo(L-lysine)s (Lys-n,n=3, 9, and 19) and poly(L-lysine) onto PMAA gels from aqueous solutions was investigated under different conditions of pH and concentration of adsorbate. The adsorption ratio of L-lysine onto PMAA gel is dependent on both the pH of solution and the degree of crosslinking. In a pH range between 8 and 9, the protonated form of L-lysine is strongly adsorbed on the PMAA gel by electrostatic interactions. Oligomers and polymer of L-lysine are adsorbed in a somewhat different way from the monomeric L-lysine. In addition, the desorption behavior of L-lysine from PMAA gels by a change in pH was also investigated.     

SAXS study of core-shell colloids

Polymeric core-shell systems were produced by a two-stage emulsion polymerization technique under fixed conditions: i) monodisperse seed latex with a sufficiently high particle number; ii) starved monomer-II addition; iii) water-soluble initiator; iv) incompatibility of core and shell polymer. From electron micrographs, it is not possible to determine where the second polymer is located within these two-stage emulsion polymers. The internal structure of the particles can be detected by small-angle x-ray scattering. The results indicate that; i) the emulsion polymerization process takes place in a small surface layer region of the seed particles, and ii) a small interfacial layer exists between the core and shell polymer.Part 6 of Polymerizations in the Presence of Seeds     

Analysis of dielectric observations of KCl-charged poly(methyl methacrylate) microcapsules using a two-component model consisting of KCl-permeable and KCl-impermeable capsules

Dielectric measurements were carried out on aqueous suspensions of poly(methyl methacrylate) microcapsules charged with KCl solutions to examine the KCl permeability of the microcapsules. The specimens exhibited three kinds of dielectric relaxation. Two kinds of dielectric relaxation were observed immediately after washing the specimens with distilled water. These overlapped each other when the specimen was left standing in the measuring cell for a long time. Their relaxation frequencies were affected by the KCl concentration of the suspending medium in which the specimen was kept before washing. Another relaxation was observed distinctly when the spepcimens were washed thoroughly with distilled water. Its relaxation frequency was affected by the KCl concentration of the charged solution. These results were explained by assuming that the specimens were mixtures of KCl-permeable and KCl-impermeable capsules. The theoretical analysis procedure was devised in the light of dielectric theory of interfacial polarization to estimate the parameters which characterize the structure of the specimens.     

Flocculation studies of non-aqueous poly(methyl methacrylate) dispersions. II. Stabilization with the diblock copolymer poly (styrene-b-[ethylene-co-propylene])

Well defined non-aqueous dispersions of poly(methyl methacrylate) stabilized by the diblock copolymer poly(styrene-b-[ethylene-co-propylene]) have been studied with a dispersion medium consisting of a binary liquid mixture of n-heptane and n-propanol. Flocculation was induced by adding n-propanol at constant temperature, to find the critical flocculation volume, and by cooling, to find the critical flocculation temperature. Theta conditions for ethylene-propylene copolymer in the same binary liquid mixture were determined using samples obtained by hydrogenating polyisoprene standards. These dispersions just retained stability at theta conditions, with flocculation occurring when the dispersion medium was slightly worse than a theta system for the stabilizing ethylene-propylene chains.     

Thermally stimulated currents in poly(bis(p-fluorophenoxy)phosphazene)

Thermally stimulated currents (TSC) were examined for poly(bis(p-fluorophenoxy)phosphazene) (PBFPP) film. TSC showed peaks at the glass transition temperature (Tg=–4 °C) and atT(1) (160 °C – 170 °C), where-form crystal phase transformed to mesophase of-form structure. Another peak was found atT _cc betweenTg andT(1). Linear relationship between polarization field and peak current ofT _cc -peak was found, which shows thatT _cc -peak was caused by motion of dipolar groups in crystalline phase. When heating (up to 200 °C) and cooling (down to 20 °C) thermal process was repeated,T _cc -peak shifted to higher temperature region approachingT(1) and simultaneously, the peak current ofT(1)-peak became smaller. Activation energy, time constant of dipolar relaxation and charge mobility were evaluated forT _cc -peak. From these results, it was concluded that-form and more ordered- form crystalline phases coexisted in PBFPP once heated aboveT(1) and the content of- form phase increased by repeated thermal hysteresis.     

An investigation of aging aqueous poly(vinyl alcohol) solutions by the light scattering method

Aqueous poly(vinyl alcohol) solutions of various concentrations were investigated. The aged solutions were diluted and then analyzed by the light scattering method, size exclusion chromatography, and viscometry. It was found that a relatively small quantity of supermolecular formations arise during aging; they are dispersed in the molecular solution of the predominant part of the polymeric material present. The amount of these aggregated structures and their formation rate increase with concentration of the aging solution.     

Stability of chromium dioxide particles in aqueous media

An investigation was carried out to characterize the dissolution behavior of stabilized and unstabilized CrO₂ particles in water, used in magnetic recording. Special attention was paid to the measurement of Cr(VI) concentration in the contact solution and to the elucidation of the effects of the stabilizing treatment by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The experimental results indicate that both stabilized and unstabilized CrO₂ particles predominantly release hexavalent chromium when in contact with water. The solubility of freshly stabilized CrO₂ is considerably smaller than that of unstabilized CrO₂, but the difference in solubility diminishes with aged particles. The XPS study indicated that stabilization of CrO₂ particles with a bisulfite solution results in the formation of Cr₂O₃ or a Cr₂O₃-like product on the particle. However, it appears that Cr(III) oxide coating does not uniformly form on all particles.     

The properties and behavior of supermolecular formations in aging aqueous poly (vinyl alcohol) solutions

The structure of supermolecular formations and the interparticle interaction in aqueous poly(vinyl alcohol) solutions aging at different concentrations were investigated. Integral light scattering was used to determine the single particle scattering functionP(K), the structure functionS(K), and hence the radial distribution functiong(r). Nonrandom arrangement of the supermolecular formations in solutions under study is much less intensive than that of particles in polymer latices.     

The modification of the triple helical structure of gelatin in aqueous solution 3. The influence of nonionic surfactants

Using CD-measurements the influence of nonionic surfactants (dodecyl polyoxyethylene, ethoxylated para tert. octyl phenol, commercial nonionic WON 100 and octyl diethyl phosphinoxid) on the secondary structure of gelatin in aqueous solutions was investigated. At surfactant concentrations smaller than the c.m.c. the triple helical content of the gelatin is increased. At concentrations exceeding the c.m.c. the triple helical content decreases. Chain reversals of the peptide chains after the destruction of the triple helical structure were shown to appear in acidic environment at 298 K. This destruction is reversible by rechilling the solution.     

Molecular orientation in hot-drawn poly(ethylene terephthalate) films as determined from the intrinsic polarized fluorescence

The groundstate-stable dimers in the non-crystalline regions of uniaxially drawn poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) films were used as chain-intrinsic fluorescent labels for studying the orientation distribution in the non-crystalline regions. As far as indicated by the spectra and the fluorescence decay law, the fluorescent group remains unchanged when the sample is uniaxially oriented by drawing above the glass transition temperature. In contrary to the behaviour of physically incorporated probe molecules, the orientation coefficient f ₂ ^F of the dimers is proportional to the amorphous orientation coefficientf ₂ ^A ; concerning the fluorescence signal, amorphous includes all the material outside the perfect crystal.During deformation, the orientation coefficientf ₂ ^F follows approximately a superposition curve of crystallite-like orientation, separable in the initial range of stretching ratio <2.5, and of true-amorphous orientation of the affine network type that becomes noticably at >3.At temperatures closely aboveT _g, and within the selected range of stretching parameters, the fluorescence intensity of PET remains nearly constant with increasing stretching ratio; at >2.5, where the maximum crystallite orientation is achieved and the increase of amorphous orientation becomes noticably, a slight augmentation of the dimer concentration is observed.     

A structural study of the mesophases of two oxyethylene alkyl ether-decane-water systems,a comparison between technical grade C12EO〈7〉 and pure C12EO6

As part of a study polyoxyethylene alkyl ethers (C _m EO _n ), water and decane, the phase diagram and the structures of the mesophases of pure C₁₂EO₆ and technical grade C₁₂EO₇ were compared. The constructed phase diagrams of the two systems show a great resemblance except for one difference: the viscous isotropic phase is only present in the C₁₂EO₆ phase diagram.The swelling behavior of the lamellar and hexagonal phases was studied with smallangle x-ray scattering. Both the lamellar and hexagonal phases showed an ideal swelling behavior and no differences between the lamellar and hexagonal phases of the two systems were detected.With freeze-fracture electron microscopy the hexagonal and lamellar phases were visualized. No differences in the textures of the lamellar phases were found, however, the micrographs of the hexagonal phases of the two systems clearly showed different textures. While in the hexagonal phase of the C₁₂EO₆ system only infinite long rods were visualized, short interrupted rods were found in the hexagonal phase of the C₁₂EO₇ system.     

Association of poly-(L-lysine) homologues in sodium carbonate solution

The molecular weights of isopoly(L-Iysine), poly(L-ornithine), and poly(L-, -diaminobutylic acid), the homologues of poly (L-lysine), were determined by the sedimentation equilibrium method in aqueous solutions of 1.0 M NaCl or 0.1 M Na₂CO₃. In every sample the molecular weights in the presence of carbonate ions was twice that in NaCl solution. In a previous paper we reported that poly(L-lysine) behaved as a dimer at concentrations higher than 0.4 g/dl in the presence of carbonate ions and as a monomer in dilute solution, and these two forms were related by a monomer-dimer equilibrium. The homologues did not have a monomer-dimer equilibrium relationship under the conditions of the measurements that we carried out. The CD spectrum of isopoly(L-lysine) in water showed a uniform increase with a decrease in the wave length in the presence of carbonate ions. However, in the alkaline region in NaOH solution, the spectrum changed and a small minimum at 212 nm was found. When additional carbonate ions were added a large minimum at 205 nm was observed. This result can be explained by a change in the conformation from a random coil to a regular structure. We could not compare isopoly(L-lysine) with other polypeptides, because it does not have peptide bonds. The CD spectra of poly(L-ornithine) and poly(L-, -diaminobutylic acid) in NaOH or Na₂CO₃ solutions showed only slightly regular structures. It was also confirmed that the dimer-structures of the poly (L-lysine) homologues do not have regular structures.This paper was presented at the VI. Symposium on Analytical Ultracentrifugation, Marburg, FRG, February 16–17,1989.