A spectral approach to determine location and orientation of azo dyes within surfactant aggregates

The UV–vis absorption properties of azo dyes are known to exhibit a variation with the polarity and acidity of the dye environment. The spectral properties of a series of anionic azo dyes were characterized to further probe the interaction of these dyes with two types of surfactant aggregates: (1) the spherical micelles formed in aqueous solution by alkyltrimethylammonium bromide (C_nTAB) surfactants with n = 10–16 and (2) the unilamellar vesicles spontaneously formed in water from binary mixtures of the oppositely-charged double-tailed surfactants cationic didodecyldimethylammonium bromide (DDAB) and anionic sodium dioctylsulfosuccinate (Aerosol OT or AOT). The observed dye spectra reflect the solvatochromic behavior of the dyes and suggest the location and orientation of the dye within the surfactant aggregates. Deconvolution of the overall spectra into sums of Gaussian curves more readily displays any contributions of tautomeric forms of the azo dyes resulting from intramolecular hydrogen bonding. The rich variation in UV/vis absorption properties of these anionic azo dyes supports their use as sensitive tools to explore the nanostructures of surfactant aggregates.     

表面活性剂存在条件下脲醛树脂微球的合成反应过程

考察了酸性和不同表面活性剂存在条件下脲醛树脂微球的合成反应过程.中性Tween80和阳离子CTAB表面活性剂中生成的微球粒径分布窄,而阴离子表面活性剂中所得产物明显团聚,当预聚脲醛树脂粒子生成后加入中性和阳离子表面活性剂使产物微球的分散性和球形完整性明显改善.表面活性剂存在条件下产物的结晶性增强,初始反应的速率减慢,但中性和阳离子表面活性剂中初级粒子生成的诱导期延长、拉曼吸收增强、所得微球带正电荷;而阴离子条件下生成产物的相应特征正好相反.以上结果可以用表面活性剂的两亲性和电性对脲醛树脂微球的成核和生长过程的影响来解释.     

Surface molecular imprinting on polypropylene fibers for rhodamine B selective adsorption

The interaction between silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) of different surface charge and surfactants relevant to the laundry cycle has been investigated to understand changes in speciation, both in and during transport from the washing machine. Ag NPs were synthesized to exhibit either a positive or a negative surface charge in solution conditions relevant for the laundry cycle (pH 10 and pH 7). These particles were characterized in terms of size and surface charge and compared to commercially laser ablated Ag NPs. The surfactants included anionic sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (LAS), cationic dodecyltrimethylammoniumchloride (DTAC) and nonionic Berol 266 (Berol). Surfactant-Ag NP interactions were studied by means of dynamic light scattering, Raman spectroscopy, zeta potential, and Quartz Crystal Microbalance. Mixed bilayers of CTAB and LAS were formed through a co-operative adsorption process on positively charged Ag NPs with pre-adsorbed CTAB, resulting in charge reversal from positive to negative zeta potentials. Adsorption of DTAC on negatively charged synthesized Ag NPs and negatively charged commercial Ag NPs resulted in bilayer formation and charge reversal. Weak interactions were observed for nonionic Berol with all Ag NPs via hydrophobic interactions, which resulted in decreased zeta potentials for Berol concentrations above its critical micelle concentration. Differences in particle size were essentially not affected by surfactant adsorption, as the surfactant layer thicknesses did not exceed more than a few nanometers. The surfactant interaction with the Ag NP surface was shown to be reversible, an observation of particular importance for hazard and environmental risk assessments.     

Salt Effect on the Aggregation Behaviors of an Anionic Carboxylate Gemini and a Cationic Surfactant

The synthesis method and conditions for the carboxylate Gemini surfactant O,O′‐bis(sodium 2‐lauricate)‐p‐benzenediol (C₁₁pPHCNa) were explored. Surface tension data of the single and mixed systems of catanionic (cationic with anionic) surfactants with different salt concentrations were used to determine the CMC values and to obtain the information of self‐assembly behaviors of the surfactants. Aggregates' morphologies were observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and speculation was made according to the viscosity measurement results. The results show that large spherical aggregates formed in the mixed solution, which tend to transfer into branched and wormlike mixed micelles with the increases of the salt concentration. The viscosity of the mixed solution was found to increase gradually corresponding to the change of the catanionic surfactant mixtures' morphology.     

Influence of Surfactant-polymer Complexes on Crystallization and Aggregation of CaCO3

Hollow calcium carbonate(CaCO₃) microspheres with different morphologies were synthesized via the precipitation reaction of calcium chloride with sodium carbonate in the presence of different surfactant-polymer complexes. The selected anionic surfactants were sodium dodecyl sulfonate(SDS) and sodium dodecyl benzenesulfonate(SDBS), respectively. The selected water-soluble polymers were polyacrylic acid(PAA) and polyvinyl pyrrolidone(PVP). In this work, SDS-PVP “pearl-necklace model” micellar complex was formed via hydrophobic effectiveness between SDS and PVP and it served as the spherical template to generate spherical CaCO₃ aggregates with hollow microspheres composed of about 500 nm irregular shaped particles. SDS-PAA complexes and SDBS-PAA complexes formed “core-shell model” aggregates with calcium ions serving as the medium to link the anionic surfactant and the polymer. SDS-PAA “core-shell model” aggregates would act as templates for hollow CaCO₃ microspheres consisting of 30-50 nm irregular shaped crystallites. SDBS-PAA “core-shell model” aggregates served as the spherical aggregate templates to generate spherical CaCO₃ aggregates consisted of many small spherical particles which had grown together. All the obtained CaCO₃ hollow microspheres are calcite particles. This research may provide new insight into the control of morphologies of hollow CaCO₃ microspheres in the presence of surfactant- polymer complexes.     

Fluorescence delineation of the surfactant microstructures in the CTAB-sOS-H2O catanionic system

A key feature of amphiphilic molecules is their ability to undergo self-assembly, a process in which a complex hierarchical structure is established without external intervention. Ternary systems consisting of aqueous mixtures of cationic and anionic surfactants exhibit a rich array of self-assembled microstructures such as spherical and rodlike micelles, unilamellar and multilamellar vesicles, planar bilayers, and bicontinuous structures. In general, multiple complementary techniques are required to explore the phase behavior and morphology of aqueous systems of oppositely charged surfactants. As a novel and effective alternative approach, we use fluorescence spectroscopic measurements to examine the microstructures of aqueous cationic/anionic surfactant systems in the dilute surfactant region. In particular, we demonstrate that the polarity-sensitive fluorophore prodan can be used to demarcate the surfactant microstructures of the ternary system of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, sodium octyl sulfate, and water. As the fluorescence signature of this probe is dependent on the nature of the surfactant aggregates present, our method is a promising new approach to effectively map complex surfactant phase diagrams.     

Crystallization and aggregation behaviors of calcium carbonate in the presence of poly(vinylpyrrolidone) and sodium dodecyl sulfate

An anionic surfactant interacts strongly with a polymer molecule to form a self-assembled structure, due to the attractive force of the hydrophobic association and electrostatic repulsion. In this crystallization medium, the surfactant-stabilized inorganic particles adsorbed on the polymer chains, as well as the bridging effect of polymer molecules, controlled the aggregation behavior of colloidal particles. In this presentation, the spontaneous precipitation of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) was conducted from the aqueous systems containing a water-soluble polymer (poly(vinylpyrrolidone), PVP) and an anionic surfactant (sodium dodecyl sulfate, SDS). When the SDS concentrations were lower than the onset of interaction between PVP and SDS, the precipitated CaCO3 crystals were typically hexahedron-shaped calcite; the increasing SDS concentration caused the morphologies of CaCO3 aggregates to change from the flower-shaped calcite to hollow spherical calcite, then to solid spherical vaterite. These results indicate that the self-organized configurations of the polymer/surfactant supramolecules dominate the morphologies of CaCO3 aggregates, implying that this simple and versatile method expands the morphological investigation of the mineralization process.     

Interaction of ionic surfactants with cornea-mimicking anionic liposomes

The interaction of surface-active molecules with lipid bilayers is ubiquitous both in biological systems and also in several technological applications. Here we explore the interaction of ionic surfactants with liposomes whose composition mimics the ocular epithelia. In this study, liposomes with a composition mimicking ocular epithelia are loaded with calcein dye above the self-quenching concentration. The liposomes are then exposed to surfactants, and the rate of dye leaked from the liposomes due to the interaction of surfactants is measured. Both cationic and anionic surfactants at various concentrations and ionic strengths are explored. Results show that the liposome bilayer permeability to the dye increases on exposure to the surfactants, leading to the release of the dye trapped in the core. However, the dye release stops after a finite time, suggesting a transient increase in permeability followed by healing. The leakage profiles exhibit two different timescales for the cationic surfactant but only one timescale for the anionic surfactant. The total dye leakage increases with surfactant concentration, and at a given concentration, the dye leakage is significantly higher for the cationic surfactants. The timescale for the healing decreases with increasing surfactant concentration, and increasing ionic strength increases the dye leakage for the anionic surfactant. These results show that the surfactant binding to the lipid bilayer increases the permeability while the bilayers heal likely because of the surfactant jump from the outer to the inner leaflet and/or rearrangement into tighter aggregates.     

Nanocage aggregates composed of bilayer sheets

A partially fluorinated carboxylate-type anionic gemini surfactant, N,N'-di(3-perfluorohexyl-2-hydroxypropyl)- N,N'-diacetic acid-ethylenediamine (2C6Fedda), formed aggregates with a cagelike structure in an aqueous alkali solution. These aggregates were composed of several bilayer sheets. The TEM micrograph showed that the bilayer sheets were produced from a condensed self-assembly core. The leaflike bilayer sheets can form folds and link to each other at their edges. The typical size of the spherical cage ranged from ca. 200 to 1500 nm.     

The effect of double-chain surfactants on armored bubbles: a surfactant-controlled route to colloidosomes

We find that the gas phases of air bubbles covered with anionic or cationic polystyrene latex particles dissolve on exposure to cationic and catanionic surfactants. The particles on the bubble interface are released as singlets or aggregates when the surfactant has a single hydrophobic chain, while porous colloidal capsules (colloidosomes) with the same aqueous phase inside as out are obtained when the surfactant has two hydrophobic chains. The formation of colloidosomes from the particle-covered bubbles does not appear to depend significantly on the charge of the particles, which makes it unlikely that bilayers of surfactant are stabilizing the colloidosome. While the exact mechanism of formation remains an open question, our method is a simple one-step process for obtaining colloidosomes from particle-covered bubbles.     

Shape-controllable synthesis of crystalline Ni complex particles via AOT-based microemulsions

This article presents a simple method for the fabrication of shape-controllable Ni complex particles via an AOT-based single microemulsion. In this approach, Ni(2+)/N2H4/EG solution is used as the dispersed phase, and cyclohexane is used as the continuous phase to obtain a microemulsion by the aid of the anionic surfactant AOT. The primary Ni complex particles with diameters of 20-30 nm were first formed in the reverse micelles and then self-organized into spindle-like, ellipse-like, cuboid, and cubic morphologies, depending on the reaction conditions. When aged at 100 degrees C for 24 h, these Ni complex particles changed into crystalline Ni. A possible evolution mechanism of the Ni complex particles with different morphologies is also discussed.     

Alkylation of carbonyl compounds in water: formation of C-C and C-O bonds in the presence of surfactants

The formation of C-C and C-O bonds by the reaction of enolate intermediates with electrophilic substrates commonly requires strong bases, aprotic solvents and very low temperatures. A way of performing the same reactions with sodium hydroxide at moderate temperatures in aqueous surfactant solutions is presented. Different halides, ketones and surfactants (cationic, zwitterionic and anionic) have been used. The results obtained show that the amount of ketone alkylation is much higher and that the reactions are faster in the presence than in the absence of surfactant aggregates. The hydrolysis of the halide is minimised in the presence of cationic or zwitterionic surfactants.     

Effect of the ionic surfactant concentration on the stabilization/destabilization of polystyrene colloidal particles

One of the most interesting properties of the surfactants is that they are able to alter the stability of colloidal dispersions. Despite its great industrial relevance, only a few works analyze the colloidal stability of these systems at high surfactant concentrations (well above the critical micelle concentration (CMC)). In the present work, the colloidal stability of polystyrene particles is studied under a wide range of ionic surfactant concentrations. The effects of the surface charge of the latex particles (evaluating both sign and value), and surfactant type (cationic or anionic) have been examined. Colloidal stability data have been gathered by monitoring aggregation using a nephelometric technique. As will be shown, it is possible to reach different stability regimes using the same colloidal system just by changing the surfactant concentration. Independently of the sign of both the surfactant and the surface, the destabilization of the system consistently takes place above certain surfactant concentration due to a depletion effect from non-adsorbed micelles. This destabilization can be predicted by adding to the DLVO interaction energy a new contribution addressing the force between two spherical particles in the presence of non-adsorbing spherical macromolecules.     

Phase Behavior in Mixtures of Cationic Dimeric and Anionic Monomeric Surfactants

The formation of mixed aggregates has been investigated in the mixture of oppositely charged surfactants vastly differing in molecular geometry and size. The systems considered is mixture of the cationic gemini surfactant, ethanediyl-1,2-bis(dodecyldimethylammonium bromide), and anionic surfactant, sodium dodecyl sulfate. Various mixed nano- and microaggregates (micelles, vesicles, thin lamellar sheets, and tubules) were formed depending on bulk composition and total surfactant concentration. Two types of aggregates were found in precipitate, the tubules as prevailing aggregates on the gemini-rich side, and vesicles as prevailing aggregates on the SDS-rich side. The tubules formation was ascribed to mutual influence of specific structure of cationic dimeric surfactant and electrostatic interactions at the bilayer/solution interface. The proposed mechanism involved the formation of lamellar sheets, which rolled-up into tubules.     

Competing reactions in anionic gel-poly(propylene imine) dendrimer-surfactant ternary systems

Competitive interactions in ternary systems including a lightly crosslinked polyanionic hydrogel, a protonated Astramol? poly(propylene imine) dendrimer (of first to fifth generation), and an ionic surfactant were studied. It was found that the direction of the substitution reactions in systems containing cationic surfactants depends on the length of the aliphatic radical in the surfactant molecule as well as on the dendrimer generation number. Depending on these parameters, the interpolyelectrolyte complex formed by the network polyanion and the cationic dendrimer is either capable or incapable of sorbing surfactant cations from aqueous solutions, thereby transforming into the network polyanion-cationic surfactant complex with the release of dendrimers to the surrounding solution. It was shown that the substitution reaction in systems containing anionic surfactants leads to the formation of a polyanionic gel reinforced by particles of the dendrimer-anionic surfactant complex.     

Sphere-to-cylinder transition in hierarchical electrostatic complexes

We report on the formation of colloidal complexes resulting from the electrostatic co-assembly between anionic surfactants and cationic polyelectrolytes or block copolymers. Combining light and X-ray scattering experiments with cryogenic transmission and optical microscopy, we emphasize a feature rarely addressed in the formation of the electrostatic complexes, namely the role of the mixing concentration on the microstructure. At low mixing concentration, electrostatic complexes made from cationic-neutral copolymers and alkyl sulfate surfactants exhibit spherical core-shell microstructures. With increasing concentration, the complexes undergo a sphere-to-cylinder transition, yielding elongated aggregates with diameter 50 nm and length up to several hundreds of nanometers. From the comparison between homo- and diblock polymer phase behaviors, it is suggested that the unidimensional growth is driven by the ability of the surfactant to self-assemble into cylindrical micelles when complexed with cationic polymers.     

Two routes to vesicle formation: metal-ligand complexation and ionic interactions

Two routes to vesicle formation were designed to prepare uni- and multilamellar vesicles in salt-free aqueous solutions of surfactants. The formation of a surfactant complex between a double-chain anionic surfactant with a divalent-metal ion as the counterion and a single-chain zwitterionic surfactant with the polar group of amine-oxide group is described for the first time as a powerful driving force for vesicle-phases constructed from salt-free mixtures of aqueous surfactant solutions. As a typical example, a Zn(2+)-induced charged complex fluid, vesicle-phase has been studied in aqueous mixtures of tetradecyldimethylamine oxide (C(14)DMAO) and zinc 2,2-dihydroperfluorooctanoate [Zn(OOCCH(2)C(6)F(13))(2)]. This ionically charged vesicle-phase formed due to surfactant complexation has interesting rheological properties and is not shielded by excess salts because there are no counterions in the solution. Such a vesicle-phase of surfactant complex is important for many applications; for example, the vesicle-phase was further used to produce in situ the vesicle-phase of the salt-free cationic/anionic (catanionic) surfactants, C(14)DMAOH(+)-(-)OOCCH(2)C(6)F(13). The salt-free catanionic vesicle-phase could be produced through injecting H(2)S gas into the C(14)DMAO/Zn(OOCCH(2)C(6)F(13))(2) vesicle-phase, because the zwitterionic surfactant C(14)DMAO can be charged by the H(+) released from H(2)S to become a cationic surfactant and Zn(2+) was precipitated as ZnS. After the ZnS precipitates were removed from C(14)DMAO/Zn(OOCCH(2)C(6)F(13))(2) solutions, the final mixed solution does not contain excess salts as do other cationic/anionic surfactant systems. Both the C(14)DMAO-Zn(OOCCH(2)C(6)F(13))(2) complex and the resulting catanionic C(14)DMAOH(+)-(-)OOCCH(2)C(6)F(13) solution are birefringent Lalpha-phase solutions that consist of uni- and multilamellar vesicles. Ring-shaped semiconductor ZnS materials with encapsulated ZnS precipitates and regular spherical ZnS particles were prepared, which resulted in a transition from vesicles composed of metal-ligand complexes to vesicles held together by ionic interactions in the salt-free aqueous systems. This strategy should provide a new method to prepare inorganic materials. The present routes to form vesicles solve a problem: how to prepare nanomaterials using surfactant self-assembly, with structure controlled not by the growing material, but by the phase behavior of the surfactants.     

阴、阳离子表面活性剂混合体系在硅胶/水及硅胶/矿化水界面上的吸附

研究阴、阳离子表面活性剂混合体系(十二烷基氯代吡啶,辛基磺酸钠,辛基三乙基溴化铵/十二烷基苯磺酸钠)在硅胶,纯水和硅胶,矿化水界面上的吸附作用,探讨阴(阳)离子表面活性剂的存在对阳(阴)离子表面活性剂吸附作用的影响．结果表明,阴离子表面活性剂的存在基本不影响阳离子表面活性剂在带负电固体表面的吸附;而阳离子表面活性剂的存在却使本来吸附量就不大的阴离子表面活性剂在带负电的固体表面上不再吸附．在矿化水中阳离子表面活性剂的吸附量比在纯水中明显降低．从硅胶表面吸附机制解释了所得结果．     

Pt/十六烷基三甲基溴化铵纳米聚集体修饰玻碳电极促进析氢(英文)

A novel, cost‐effective, and simple electrocatalyst based on a Pt‐modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE), using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as a cationic surfactant, is reported. Am‐phiphilic CTAB molecules were adsorbed on GCE by immersion in a CTAB solution. The positively charged hydrophilic layer, which consisted of small aggregates of average size less than 100 nm, was used for accumulation and complexation of [PtCl6]2? anions by immersing the electrode in K2PtCl6 solution. The modified electrode was characterized using scanning electron microscopy, energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy, impedance spectroscopy, and electrochemical methods. The electrocatalytic activity of the Pt particles in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) was investigat‐ed. The results show that the CTAB surfactant enhances the electrocatalytic activity of the Pt parti‐cles in the HER in acidic solution.     

Interaction between the water soluble poly{1,4-phenylene-[9,9-bis(4-phenoxy butylsulfonate)]fluorene-2,7-diyl} copolymer and ionic surfactants followed by spectroscopic and conductivity measurements

The interaction has been studied in aqueous solutions between a negatively charged conjugated polyelectrolyte poly{1,4-phenylene-[9,9-bis(4-phenoxybutylsulfonate)]fluorene-2,7-diyl} copolymer (PBS-PFP) and several cationic tetraalkylammonium surfactants with different structures (alkyl chain length, counterion, or double alkyl chain), with tetramethylammonium cations and with the anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) by electronic absorption and emission spectroscopy and by conductivity measurements. The results are compared with those previously obtained on the interaction of the same polymer with the nonionic surfactant C12E5. The nature of the electrostatic or hydrophobic polymer-surfactant interactions leads to very different behavior. The polymer induces the aggregation with the cationic surfactants at concentrations well below the critical micelle concentration, while this is inhibited with the anionic SDS, as demonstrated from conductivity measurements. The interaction with cationic surfactants only shows a small dependence on alkyl chain length or counterion and is suggested to be dominated by electrostatic interactions. In contrast to previous studies with the nonionic C12E5, both the cationic and the anionic surfactants quench the PBS-PFP emission intensity, leading also to a decrease in the polymer emission lifetime. However, the interaction with these cationic surfactants leads to the appearance of a new emission band (approximately 525 nm), which may be due to energy hopping to defect sites due to the increase of PBS-PFP interchain interaction favored by charge neutralization of the anionic polymer by cationic surfactant and by hydrophobic interactions involving the surfactant alkyl chains, since the same green band is not observed by adding either tetramethylammonium hydroxide or chloride. This effect suggests that the cationic surfactants are changing the nature of PBS-PFP aggregates. The nature of the polymer and surfactant interactions can, thus, be used to control the spectroscopic and conductivity properties of the polymer, which may have implications in its applications.