Proton sponge and fatty acid interactions at the air-water interface. Thermodynamic, spectroscopic, and microscopic study

Mixed Langmuir and Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films of a proton sponge, namely, diphenyl bis(octadecylamino)phosphonium bromide, and a fatty acid, docosanoic acid, with different molar ratios have been fabricated. Surface pressure versus area per molecule isotherms were registered, and the excess areas and excess Gibbs energy of mixing were calculated. Strong interactions between the proton sponge and the fatty acid take place at the air-water interface. The existence of a stoichiometric 1:1 acid-base reaction between the two components forming a complex on the water surface at high surface pressures has been demonstrated. Furthermore, the reaction had an efficiency close to 100% at the air-water interface; meanwhile, it hardly takes place in organic solvents such as chloroform or even a mixture of chloroform and dimethyl sulfoxide. The floating films were transferred to solid supports and characterized by means of several techniques including IR spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and atomic force microscopy, revealing the presence of highly ordered alkyl chains and a constant architecture along the different layers as well as the presence of different domains in the LB films, except those having a 1:1 proton sponge-fatty acid ratio that are homogeneous. Such domains have been interpreted as the presence of two different phases, the 1:1 complex plus the excess component in the mixture.