Self-assembly of fatty acid-alkylboladiamine salts

Long-chain fatty acids are insoluble in aqueous solution and form crystal precipitates. It is then of particular importance to determine the physicochemical parameters allowing their dispersion in water to improve their bioavailability and their utilization as surfactants. Herein, we report a study on salt-free catanionic systems in aqueous solution made of mixtures between palmitic or stearic fatty acids and alkylboladiamines (Abd's) differing by their alkyl chain length. Phase contrast microscopy, solid-state NMR, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and small-angle neutron scattering were used to characterize the phase behavior of these systems at molar ratio of fatty acid to Abd of 1 and 2. Whatever the Abd and the molar ratio, fatty acids were embedded at low temperature in a bilayer gel phase which crystallizes after a period of rest. At an equimolar ratio, the gel phases transited upon raising the temperature to an isotropic phase made of worm-like micelles except in the case of the ethylenediamine chain for which a lamellar fluid phase was observed. At a molar ratio of 2 and high temperature, fatty acids were embedded in a lamellar fluid phase which self-orients with its stacking axis perpendicular to the magnetic field. However, for a long alkylboladiamine such as spermine, worm-like micelles formed. The phase behavior at high temperature is discussed in terms of molecular volume.