Short-chain branched sulfosuccinate as a missing link between surfactants and hydrotropes

Surfactants aggregate in water into micelles, and these micelles incorporate organic substances to solubilize them. Hydrotropes are compounds that increase the solubility of hydrophobic substances in water without this form of aggregation. Decreasing the chain length of the classical surfactant Aerosol OT (AOT) from C8 to C5 results in a molecule with intermediate properties. Molecular dynamics simulations and surface tension measurements are performed on this short chain derivative of AOT. This compound shows high solubility and at the same time progressive weak aggregation. The hydration of head groups hinders significant plunging into a hydrophobic core, which leads to well defined liquid chain nanodomains. The transition to bicontinuous aggregates is in the concentration range of 1 mol L^-1. The sulfonate group of the head groups (placed at the water interface of worm-like aggregates) rather than the aggregate-aggregate interaction is responsible for the unusual small angle X-ray scattering pattern.