Revealed Properties of Various Self-Assemblies in Two Catanionic Surfactant Systems in Relation to Their Polarity and...

A catanionic surfactant system is an aqueous solution or dispersion of cationic and anionic surfactants that spontaneously self-assemble into structures such as micelles, vesicles, and coacervates. Their structural diversity varies depending on the ratios of cationic and anionic surfactants (compositions), the chemical structure of the constituent molecules, etc. Herein, two types of catanionic surfactant systems were systematically characterized: (i) cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), both typical ionic surfactants; and (ii) dodecylmethylimidazolium ammonium bromide ([C₁₂mim]Br) and SDS, where the former is an ionic liquid. By observing the sample appearance, turbidity, and particle size, the phase state of each system was analyzed according to the total concentration of surfactants and the molar ratio of cationic surfactants to the total concentration. Especially, for specific compositions of catanionic surfactant vesicles (cataniosome), the closed structure of the vesicles was confirmed through calcein entrapment and release detected with a fluorescence assay. The polarities of the interface of the prepared self-assemblies were evaluated using a fluorescence probe, Laurdan. The packing state of the molecules in the formed self-assembly structure was estimated using Raman spectroscopy. The results clearly indicate consistent phase-transition behavior for the CTAB-SDS (i) and [C₁₂mim]Br-SDS (ii) systems, depending on the total surfactant concentration and composition, while the membrane properties of the two systems differed. The cataniosome formed in the CTAB-SDS system was in a tightly packed membrane state and more hydrophobic than that formed in the [C₁₂mim]Br-SDS system owing to the difference in the structure of the constituting molecule: [C₁₂mim]Br has a larger head group and shorter acyl chain than CTAB. The self-assembly properties evaluated in this study were compared with those of typical lipid membranes, liposomes (lipid vesicles), to determine a possible application of the catanionic systems with various self-assembly formulations.