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Gemini Surfactants with Polymethylene Spacer: Supramolecular Structures at Solid Surface and Aggregation in Aqueous Solution

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Journal of Surfactants and Detergents

Abstract

Aggregation of α,ω-bisammonium cationic gemini surfactants with a variable polymethylene spacer and two dodecyl chains has been studied on a solid surface and in aqueous solution. Scanning electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering with the time-resolved fluorescence quenching technique were used for the experiments on the solid surface and in aqueous solution, respectively. As the results from the scanning electron microscopy indicate, the morphology of supramolecular structures of gemini surfactants at the solid surface depends on the spacer length. In aqueous solution, gemini surfactants with spacers consisting of 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 CH2 groups form spherical micelles with diameters between 2 and 3.5 nm. Micelles of gemini surfactant with a short ethylene spacer show an increase in size up to 13 nm at the maximum concentration investigated. The aggregation number of micelles determined by time resolved fluorescence quenching was found to be in the range 14–25 for the spacer lengths from 6 to 12 CH2 groups with only a moderate increase with surfactant concentration. For micelles of gemini surfactants with the short ethylene spacer, the increase of the aggregation number up to 50 at the maximum concentration was observed. The findings support micellar growth of gemini surfactants with short ethylene spacer.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency Grant No. APVV-0516-12 Small Molecules in Biomedical Research and by the programme Sustainability and Development, REG LO1211, with financial support from the National Programme for Sustainability I (Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Theory of Drugs, Faculty of Pharmacy, Comenius University, Kalinčiakova 8, Bratislava, 83232, Slovakia

    Martin Pisárčik & Ferdinand Devínsky

  2. Department of Chemical Drugs, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Palackého 1, Brno, 61242, Czech Republic

    Josef Jampílek

  3. Materials Research Centre, Faculty of Chemistry, Brno University of Technology, Purkyňova 464/118, Brno, 612 00, Czech Republic

    Juliána Drábiková, Jakub Tkacz & Tomáš Opravil

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  1. Martin Pisárčik
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  2. Josef Jampílek
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Correspondence to Martin Pisárčik.

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Pisárčik, M., Jampílek, J., Devínsky, F. et al. Gemini Surfactants with Polymethylene Spacer: Supramolecular Structures at Solid Surface and Aggregation in Aqueous Solution. J Surfact Deterg 19, 477–486 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11743-016-1797-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11743-016-1797-8

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