Recent advances on synthesis of potentially non-bioaccumulable fluorinated surfactants

Fluorinated surfactants are exceptional compounds that have found many applications in everyday life. This review focuses on severe issues on the toxicity, persistency and bioaccumulation of these halogenated products, especially perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), the half-lives of which are several years in human serum. After an introduction on their productions, uses and hazards, this minireview updates non-exhaustive recent strategies of synthesis of original fluorosurfactants that may be potentially non-bioaccumulable. These routes have been devoted on: (i) the preparation of CF₃-X-(CH₂)_n-SO₃Na (with X = O, C₆H₄O or N(CF₃) and n = 8–12), (ii) the use of fluorinated polyethers (achieved either by oligomerization of hexafluoropropylene oxide (HFPO) or by ring opening cationic oligomerization of fluorinated oxetanes; (iii) the telomerization of vinylidene fluoride (VDF) with 1-iodoperfluoralkanes to produce C_nF_2n + 1-(VDF)₂-CH₂CO₂R (n = 2 or 4, R = H or NH₄), (iv) the radical telomerization of 3,3,3-trifluoropropene (TFP) with isoperfluoropropyliodide to prepare (CF₃)₂CF(TFP)_x-R_H, and (v) the radical cotelomerization of VDF and TFP, or their controlled radical copolymerization in the presence of either (CF₃)₂CFI or a fluorinated xanthate. In most cases, the surface tensions versus the surfactant concentrations have been assessed. These above pathways led to various highly fluorinated (but yet not perfluorinated) telomers or cooligomers, the chemical changes of which enabled to obtain original surfactants as novel alternatives to PFOA, ammonium perfluorooctanoate (APFO), or PFOS regarded as the PCBs of the XXIst century.     

Strategies for synthesizing non-bioaccumulable alternatives to PFOA and PFOS

This minireview describes the strategies for synthesis of fiuorinated surfactants potentially nonbioaccumulable.Various strategies have been focused on(Ⅰ) reducing the length of the perfluorocarbon chain,(Ⅱ) introducing hetero atoms into the fluorocarbon chain,(Ⅲ) introducing branch(herein and after branch means the fluoro-carbon chain section is not straight).In most cases,the surface tensions versus the surfactant concentrations have been assessed.These above strategies led to various highly fiuorinated(perfluorinated or not perfluorinated) surfactants whose chemical changes enabled to obtain novel alternatives to perfluorooctanoic acid(PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulphonate(PFOS).     

Antifoam effect of highly fluorinated polysiloxanes

Aqueous foaming solutions of permethylsiloxane surfactants and fluorocarbon surfactants are very resistant to antifoaming. Newly developed polysiloxane fluids having highly fluorinated chains showed very low surface tensions and were examined as antifoaming compounds to test against these two classes of surfactant systems. The fluorinated polysiloxanes evaluated were poly-[(3,3,4,4,5,5,6,6,6 - nonafluorohexyl)methylsiloxane] (PNFHMS), and 1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorodecyl-terminated polydimethylsiloxane (Def-DMS). Poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) was also studied as a standard siloxane polymer fluid for comparison. The antifoams composed of PNFHMS and Def-DMS polymer fluids incorporated with silica showed effective antifoaming against the low surface tension aqueous solutions of representative permethylsiloxane and fluorocarbon surfactants.     

Preparative-scale synthesis of 3,3,3-trifluoropropene oxide

Bromination of 3,3,3-trifluoropropene in 20% oleum, followed by treatment with acetic acid furnishes 2-bromo-3,3,3-trifluoropropyl acetate in quantitative yield, which upon acid hydrolysis and cyclization with alkali affords 3,3,3-trifluoropropene oxide (TFPO) in 63% overall yield.     

Synthesis of novel oil-soluble fluorinated surfactants via Wittig-Horner reaction

In this paper, the synthesis and characterization of novel oil-soluble fluorinated surfactants were reported. Both Wittig and Wittig-Horner reaction were used for constructing the perfluorinated branch-chain structure, and the latter provided a better method through a three-step synthesis route which was easy worked up and low cost. The surface tension of novel products in toluene, n-hexane and nitromethane with concentrations of 0.1?mol/L, 0.05?mol/L, 0.025?mol/L, 0.0125?mol/L, 0.00625?mol/L and 0?mol/L were examined. The surface tension research of these surfactants showed that they can reduce the surface tension of organic reagents dramatically. For example, compound 1e can reduce the surface tension of nitromethane from 36.6?mN/m to 24.2?mN/m in the concentration of 0.1?mol/L, and the surface tension of toluene was reduced from 28.0?mN/m to 22.7?mN/m when the concentration of compound 1a was 0.1?mol/L.     

Surface properties and aggregate morphology of partially fluorinated carboxylate-type anionic gemini surfactants

Three anionic homologues of a novel partially fluorinated carboxylate-type anionic gemini surfactant, N,N′-di(3-perfluoroalkyl-2-hydroxypropyl)-N,N′-diacetic acid ethylenediamine (2 edda, where n represents the number of carbon atoms in the fluorocarbon chain (4, 6, and 8)) were synthesized. In these present gemini surfactants, the relatively small carboxylic acid moieties form hydrophilic head groups. The surface properties or structures of the aggregates of these surfactants are strongly influenced by the nonflexible fluorocarbons and small head groups; this is because these surfactants have a closely packed molecular structure. The equilibrium surface tension properties of these surfactants were measured at 298.2 K for various fluorocarbon chain lengths. The plot of the logarithm of the critical micelle concentration (cmc) against the fluorocarbon chain lengths for 2 edda (n = 4, 6, and 8) showed a minimum for n = 6. Furthermore, the lowest surface tension of 2 edda at the cmc was 16.4 mN m⁻¹. Such unique behavior has not been observed even in the other fluorinated surfactants. Changes in the shapes and sizes of these surfactant aggregate with concentration were investigated by dynamic light scattering and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The TEM micrographs showed that in an aqueous alkali solution, 2 edda mainly formed aggregates with stringlike (n = 4), cagelike (n = 6), and distorted bilayer structures (n = 8). The morphological changes in the aggregates were affected by the molecular structure composed of nonflexible fluorocarbon chains and flexible hydrocarbon chains.     

Syntheses and properties of novel non-ionic fluorinated multichains “star-like” surfactants

A series of star-like nonionic surfactants (with two hydrophobic and two hydrophilic chains) with different lengths of hydrophilic and hydrophobic arms were synthesised on the basis of pyromellitic acid dianhydride. The hydrophilic arms were formed by polyoxyethylene and hydrophobic ones either by perfluoro- or by alkyl chains. The adsorption monolayers (Gibbs monolayers) were studied by surface pressure (π) measurements as a function of time for different surfactant concentrations. For the spread monolayers (Langmuir monolayers), the measurements of the surface pressure (π) versus the molecular area (A) as well as the relaxation measurements of the area (A) as a function of time at constant surface pressure were performed. The comparison between the characteristic parameters of two types of monolayers was made in order to understand the effect of the preparation conditions on the structure of these monolayers.It was found that decreasing the fluoroalkyl chain length induced a systematical decrease in the stability of Langmuir monolayers, which is manifested as the Marangoni-Gibbs viscoelasticity of the monolayers. For the surfactants, which have a large number of oxyethylene groups, adsorption at the air/water interface from the bulk solution required extremely long times to reach equilibrium due to the diffusion from the solution and to the conformational rearrangements at the interface. The observation of a hysteresis in the compression/decompression curves for these compounds is explained by the presence of the residual organic solvent molecules absorbed by oxyethylenic chains. A novel model describing the kinetics of desorption or rearrangement of molecules during the lateral compression was suggested, allowing the estimation of both characteristic time of this process and areas per molecule at the equilibrium from the relaxation curves A(t).     

Synthesis of a novel functional polymer immobilized platinum complex and its application in the catalytic hydrosilylation of 3,3,3-trifluoropropene with triethoxysilane

A novel polymer has been synthesized using 2-vinylpyridine as a functional monomer and allyl polyethylene glycol as a cross-linking agent, and platinum has been immobilized on this synthesized polymer. The resulting immobilized catalyst showed superior catalytic performance for the hydrosilylation of 3,3,3-trifluoropropene with triethoxysilane as compared to homogenous platinum catalyst, polystyrene-immobilized platinum or other hydrosilylation catalysts. The conversion of silane is about 100% and the maximum yield of β-adduct is 92.3% with slightly α-adduct. Furthermore, the catalyst showed sufficient stability that it could be reused three times without noticeable inactivation.     

Synthesis and combined properties of novel fluorinated cationic surfactants derived from hexafluoropropylene dimer

Three novel fluorinated surfactants with branched short fluorinated tails as hydrophobic groups, ammonium oxide as polar groups are prepared. Surface tension measurement shows that these fluorinated surfactants are ideal compounds to design new formulations in fire-fighting field.     

Synthesis and surface properties of new semi-fluorinated sulfobetaines potentially usable for 2D-electrophoresis

New semi-fluorinated amidosulfobetaines, homologs of hydrocarbon amidosulfobetaines (ASB) commonly used in two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DE), were prepared in three steps from 2-F-alkylethyl iodide or F-alkyl iodide. Their synthesis was described and their air-water interface properties were investigated and compared with their perhydrogenated counterpart properties. The influence of the relative lengths of the perfluorinated and hydocarbonated moieties was discussed. 2DE of a rat testicular membrane fraction was performed comparatively using one of these fluorinated sulfobetaines and its hydrocarbon homolog; these preliminary results showed the great potential of the semi-fluorinated sulfobetaines in proteomic analysis.     

Effect of different surfactants on colloidal and polymer properties of fluorinated acrylate latex

Fluorinated acrylate latex was successfully prepared by semi-continuous seeded emulsion polymerization of dodecafluoroheptyl methacrylate (DFMA) with butyl acrylate (BA), methyl methacrylate (MMA) initiated by potassium persulfate in the water. The resultant latexes and their films are characterized with Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometry, contact angle determinator, dynamic light scattering detector and surface tension determinator. Effect of different surfactants on colloidal and polymer properties of fluorinated acrylate latex was studied. Results show that the latex prepared with sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate surfactant has the smallest particle size and contact angle but the moderate surface tension. The latex prepared with perfluorooctanesulfonic acid potassium surfactant has the smallest surface tension, moderate particle size but the biggest contact angle. The latex prepared with sodium 2-hydroxy-3-(methacryloyloxy) prop- ane-1-sulfonate surfactant has the biggest particle size and surface tension but moderate contact angle. In addition, the latex prepared with sodium 2-hydroxy-3-(methacryloyloxy) prop- ane-1-sulfonate has higher electrolyte stability.     

表面活性剂浓度与表面张力-稀释倍数积分值的关系研究

比较了三阶段Hermit插值和二次多项式的表面张力-稀释倍数拟合曲线及其求积方式,得出由三阶段Hermit插值所得n 1个离散数据点的拟合曲线,及对其前n个离散数据点所在区间上进行求积较佳。在三阶段Hermit插值拟合及求积方式下,分析了十二烷基硫酸钠、十六烷基三甲基溴化铵、茶皂素和去菌体前后含鼠李糖脂发酵液溶液浓度与表面张力-稀释倍数积分值之间的线性回归方程F值和r值,结果显示:F值大小受积分区间、(生物)表面活性剂种类、溶液浓度与临界胶团浓度的比值大小及溶液中杂质的影响,但F值均大于F0.005。     

Spacer effects in dimeric cationic surfactants

A series of dimeric cationic surfactants (gemini surfactants), which have spacer groups of varying length and flexibility, was synthesized. The series is derived from the parent compounds dodecyltrimethylammonium chloride or benzyldodecyldimethylammonium chloride. Characteristic surfactant properties of the dimeric ammonium compounds such as surface activity, micellization, viscosity effects, foaming, and solubilization, were studied with respect to the influence of the spacer group on the surfactant. For all properties, the influence of the length of the spacer group was predominant though the chemical nature of the spacer cannot be neglected.     

Synthesis and surface activities of organic solvent-soluble fluorinated surfactants

A variety of fluorinated surfactants soluble in organic solvent were prepared, including C₈F₁₇SO₂NHC_nH_2n+1 (n = 2, 4, 6, 8, 10), C₈F₁₇SO₂NHR (R = C₆H₁₁, C₆H₅), C₈F₁₇SO₂N(C_nH_2n+1)₂ (n = 1, 2, 3, 4) and C₈F₁₇SO₂NH(CH₂)_nNHO₂SC₈F₁₇ (n = 6, 10). Their surface activities in various organic solvents were determined by surface tension measurement. The results showed that these fluorinated surfactants can reduce the surface tension of both polar and non-polar organic solvents. In general, organic solvents with strong polarity or long alkyl chain are beneficial to increase the surface activity of these polar fluorinated surfactants. By comparing fluorinated surfactants with the same fluorocarbon segment and connecting group, C₈F₁₇SO₂N(C_nH_2n+1)₂ (n = 1, 2, 3, 4) showed lower surface activity in organic solvents than C₈F₁₇SO₂NHC_nH_2n+1 (n = 2, 4, 6, 8) with an equal carbon number of the solvophilic group. Through surface tension vs. concentration curves given for N-octyl perfluorooctanesulfonamide in various organic solvents, a break point like the critical micelle concentration of ordinary surfactants in aqueous solutions was observed, and the effect of the different types of organic solvents on adsorption and aggregation behavior was also studied.     

蛋白质吸附表面活性剂的测定方法研究

一定ｐＨ值和一定浓度下，蛋白质与表面活性剂相互作用形成复合物产生沉淀。作者利用这一原理，研究了肌酸激酶对表面活性剂的吸附关系，并据此发展了滴定法和表面张力法两种简便测定蛋白质对表面活性剂吸附量的方法。     

Study of polymer-surfactant interactions via surface tension measurements

Interactions between a polymer and a surfactant were studied via surface tension measurements. Poly(ethylene glycol) and sodium dodecyl sulfate were used as a polymer and a surfactant, respectively. The addition of polymer affected the CMC value of the surfactant. The interpretations of the data and theoretical plots of polymer-surfactant interactions are discussed using a theoretical model. Received: 28 September 2000 Accepted: 3 October 2000     

Head group specificity of novel functionalized surfactants: synthesis,self-assembly and calcium tolerance

The present work describes the synthesis, characterization and application of functionalized surfactants derived through simple organic reaction steps. These surfactants have been particularly tailor made to resist hardness due to calcium ions in water. It is unique of its kind because here the surfactants have an analogous hydrophobic chain but differ structurally in the composition of the head groups in terms of the position of attachment of the chain. The effect of this small variability in the head group on the surfactant property, adsorption, self assembly and calcium tolerance behaviour has been studied in detail. This kind of phenol–keto surfactants has not been reported before. It was also found that one of the surfactants was more tolerant towards Ca²⁺ ion than the other. The individual packing behaviour of the surfactants at the air–water interface has been projected to cause this difference which is very interesting.     

A simple adsorption model for ionic surfactants

In the past, few theoretical attempts have been made to describe quantitatively the adsorption of ionic surfactants at liquid interfaces. Well-known adsorption isotherms due to Frumkin or Hill–de Boer cannot respond to the specific electrostatic and geometric properties of the surfactant molecules. Our approach is based on a combination of the Gouy–Chapman theory with a modified Frumkin isotherm. The modification implies that the system is free to choose an optimal head group area and an optimal arrangement of the surfactant molecules in the interface as a function of bulk concentration. Interaction energies between neighbouring adsorbed surfactant molecules and between surfactant and water molecules are taken into consideration. The minimum of the Gibbs free energy of the system is equivalent to a minimal interfacial tension. Thus, the thermodynamically stable isotherm can be obtained as the lower envelope of the family of σ versus ln c isotherms resulting from different choices of the model parameters, including the area per molecule. According to the Gibbs equation, the Γ versus ln c adsorption isotherm is obtained as the derivative of this envelope. By variation of the model parameters, the envelope of the calculated adsorption isotherms can be fitted to experimental data of the interfacial tension versus bulk concentration. A computer program is used to calculate the σ versus c and the Γ versus ln c curves as well as to fit the parameters. Received: 28 October 1999/Accepted: 8 February 2000     

Synthesis of a novel type of hybrid fluorocarbon ionic surfactants containing polyoxyethlene chain

A novel type of hybrid ionic surfactants containing oxyethylene chain and fluorocarbon chain in one molecule, n-C₈F₁₇SO₃⁻N⁺(C₂H₅)₃(CH₂CH₂O)_nH (n = 4.0, ∼4.1, 8.7, 13.2, 17.8, 22.3), were prepared. The compounds were achieved from the reaction of polyethylene glycol and perfluorooctanesulfonyl fluoride in the presence of Et₃N. The evaluation of their behavior at the air-water interface has been studied from measurements of surface tension versus variation of concentration, and the properties of the hybrid surfactants are not consistent with the empirical rule observed from the fluorinated nonionic surfactant.     

Surface activity and redox behavior of nonionic surfactants containing an anthraquinone group as the redox-active site

Two new nonionic surfactants, α-anthraquinonyloxyhexyl-ω-hydroxy-oligo(ethylene oxide) (ACPEG) and α-anthraquinonyl-ω-hydroxy-oligo(ethylene oxide) (APEG), were synthesized. The fundamental interfacial behavior of these surfactants at the air/water interface has been investigated by means of surface tensiometry to provide an insight into the relationship between the structure of the hydrophobic moiety and the surfactant properties, with specific emphasis on the anthraquinone linkage. Aggregation numbers of the surfactants have been determined from static light scattering measurements. At a constant hydration of the ethylene oxide chain, the increase in the hydrophobic chain length in ACPEG raises its hydrophobic interaction and results in enhanced aggregation and significant variation in the interfacial and micellization properties compared to APEG. The electrochemical behavior of the surfactants has also been studied in 0.16 M NaCl aqueous solutions and in 0.1 M tetrabutylammonium perchlorate acetonitrile solutions at the interface of a glassy carbon electrode. A difference in the extent of aggregation has a pronounced effect on the cyclic voltammetric behavior of the surfactants in aqueous solution. In organic media, on the other hand, the redox process depends only on the molecular geometry of the monomeric species. A comparison of the electrochemical responses in the two phases has been made to explain the distinctive features of the redox properties of the surfactants. Received: 30 May 1999 Accepted in revised form: 29 June 1999