Raman spectroscopic study on the structure of water in aqueous solution of zwitterionic surfactants

The structure and hydrogen bonding of water in aqueous solutions of various surfactants were analyzed using the contours of the O-H stretching in the polarized Raman spectra. From the relative intensity of the collective band (C value) corresponding to a long-range coupling of the O-H stretching in the aqueous surfactant solutions, the number of hydrogen bonds disrupted due to the presence of one surfactant molecule (N(corr) value) was evaluated. The N(corr) value for decylsulfobetaine was slightly negative, whereas those for ordinary ionic surfactants such as sodium dodecylsulfate and dodecyltrimethylammonium chloride were large positive values. Furthermore, the N(corr) for carboxybetaine surfactant was a small positive value. These results suggest that zwitterionic surfactants do not disturb the hydrogen-bonded network structure of water significantly, probably due to the counteraction of the electrostriction effect by the proximity between the anionic and cationic groups.