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Aggregation Behavior of Surface Active Dialkylimidazolium Ionic Liquids [C12C n im]Br (n = 1–4) in Aqueous Solutions

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Journal of Surfactants and Detergents

Abstract

Four diakylimidazolium ionic liquids, namely 1-alkyl-3-dodecylimidazolium bromides ([C12C n im]Br) with the same dodecyl long-chain tail (C12) and the short alkyl side chain (C n , n = 1–4), were synthesized, and their molecule structures were confirmed by ESI–MS, 1H-NMR and elemental analysis. The physicochemical properties of [C12C n im]Br (n = 1–4) were determined by means of surface tension and fluorescence probe methods, respectively. It was found that elongation of the side chain length will bring about an enhancement of surface activity. Along with the side chain length increasing, the critical micelle concentration (CMC), surface tension at CMC (γ CMC), the maximum surface excess (Γm), micellar aggregation number (N m) and micellar microenvironment polarity of [C12C n im]Br decrease, while adsorption efficiency (pC 20), surface pressure at CMC (ΠCMC), the minimum molecular cross-sectional area (A min) at air-solution interfaces and CMC/C 20 ratio increase.

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Acknowledgments

This work was sponsored by the Qing Lan Project (2010), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (JUSRP211A10), the open fund of Zhejiang Zanyu Technology CO., Ltd. and the Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Fine Petrochemicals (KF0903).

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  1. The Key Laboratory of Food Colloids and Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Chemical and Material Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China

    Xuefeng Liu, Jie Hu, Yijun Huang & Yun Fang

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  1. Xuefeng Liu
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Correspondence to Xuefeng Liu.

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Liu, X., Hu, J., Huang, Y. et al. Aggregation Behavior of Surface Active Dialkylimidazolium Ionic Liquids [C12C n im]Br (n = 1–4) in Aqueous Solutions. J Surfact Deterg 16, 539–546 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11743-012-1409-1

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