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The micellar and surface properties of a unique type of two-headed surfactant--pentaerythritol based di-cationic

Yevgen Karpichev¹, Nusrat Jahan², Nawal Paul²

¹Department of Chemistry, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4J3, Canada; L.M. Litvinenko Institute of Physical Organic and Coal Chemistry, Donetsk 83114, Ukraine.

Journal of Colloid and Interface Science

|April 8, 2014

Abstract:

The surface properties of some families of cationic two-headed surfactants based on a pentaerythritol backbone are described. The compounds have the following general structure (1), where R' are head groups and R are linear alkyl groups ranging from octyl to tetradecyl. The syntheses of these compounds has been published in detail previously. Critical micelle concentrations (cmc values) of these two-headed surfactants have been determined and compared to conventional ionic surfactants and gemini surfactants of similar structure. In addition, the surface activity of these two-headed surfactants, expressed as the C20 value and the surface tension at the cmc, have been determined. Transmission electron microscopy has been used to examine the morphology of the aggregates formed by these amphiphiles. In general, when compared to conventional ionic and two-headed surfactants, these new two-headed surfactants exhibit a remarkable efficiency in the tendency to self-assemble and are significantly more surface active than their conventional counterparts [structure: see text].

Keywords:

Cmc values Micelles Morphology Surface activity TEM Two-headed surfactants

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