Adsorption and association in aqueous solutions of dissymmetric gemini surfactant

A gemini surfactant with two hydrocarbon chains differing in length and with an ethylene spacer N,N-dimethyl-N-(2-(N',N'-dimethyl-N'-dodecylammonio) ethyl) tetradecylammonium dibromide, 12-2-14, was synthesized and its physicochemical properties were studied by surface tension, conductometry, potentiometry, viscosimetry, and light scattering measurements, as well as by optical microscopy. Surface properties and thermodynamic parameters lie between those obtained for its symmetric counterparts, while association in solution exhibited peculiar properties, i.e., high polydispersity and the coexistence of three populations of differently sized aggregates.