The effect of alkyltrimethylammonium bromides on the thermal stability of dioctadecyldimethylammonium bromide (DOAB) vesicles in aqueous solutions

The influence of alkyl chain length in alkyltrimethylammonium bromides on the gel to liquid crystal transitions in DOAB versicles is examined using differential scanning microcalorimetric data. The changes in melting temperature, patch number and standard enthalpy of melting for DOAB vesicles depend strongly on added surfactants and their concentration. The data show that vesicles are readily penetrated by surfactant molecules when the vesicles are in the liquid crystal state and the penetration is facile when the length of alkyl chains in both surfactants and vesicles are comparable. Furthermore, the vesicles are made up of domains that differ in composition.