Surface shear rheology of saponin adsorption layers

Saponins are a wide class of natural surfactants, with molecules containing a rigid hydrophobic group (triterpenoid or steroid), connected via glycoside bonds to hydrophilic oligosaccharide chains. These surfactants are very good foam stabiliziers and emulsifiers, and show a range of nontrivial biological activities. The molecular mechanisms behind these unusual properties are unknown, and, therefore, the saponins have attracted significant research interest in recent years. In our previous study (Stanimirova et al. Langmuir 2011, 27, 12486-12498), we showed that the triterpenoid saponins extracted from Quillaja saponaria plant (Quillaja saponins) formed adsorption layers with unusually high surface dilatational elasticity, 280 ± 30 mN/m. In this Article, we study the shear rheological properties of the adsorption layers of Quillaja saponins. In addition, we study the surface shear rheological properties of Yucca saponins, which are of steroid type. The experimental results show that the adsorption layers of Yucca saponins exhibit purely viscous rheological response, even at the lowest shear stress applied, whereas the adsorption layers of Quillaja saponins behave like a viscoelastic two-dimensional body. For Quillaja saponins, a single master curve describes the data for the viscoelastic creep compliance versus deformation time, up to a certain critical value of the applied shear stress. Above this value, the layer compliance increases, and the adsorption layers eventually transform into viscous ones. The experimental creep-recovery curves for the viscoelastic layers are fitted very well by compound Voigt rheological model. The obtained results are discussed from the viewpoint of the layer structure and the possible molecular mechanisms, governing the rheological response of the saponin adsorption layers.