Gemini Surfactants with Polymethylene Spacer: Supramolecular Structures at Solid Surface and Aggregation in Aqueous Solution

• Published in: Journal of surfactants and detergents Vol. 19; no. 3; pp. 477 - 486
• Main Authors: Pisárčik, Martin, Jampílek, Josef, Devínsky, Ferdinand, Drábiková, Juliána, Tkacz, Jakub, Opravil, Tomáš
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-05-2016; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aquatic Pollution; Aqueous solutions; Cationic surfactants; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Dynamic light scattering; Fluorescence; Gemini surfactants; Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering; Light scattering; Original Article; Physical Chemistry; Polymer Sciences; Quenching; Scanning electron microscopy; Scattering; Surfaces and Interfaces; Surfactants; Thin Films; Time‐resolved fluorescence quenching; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Scanning electron microscopy; Gemini surfactants; Dynamic light scattering; Cationic surfactants; Time-resolved fluorescence quenching
• ISSN: 1097-3958; 1558-9293
• DOI: 10.1007/s11743-016-1797-8

Aggregation of α,ω-bisammonium cationic gemini surfactants with a variable polymethylene spacer and two dodecyl chains has been studied on a solid surface and in aqueous solution. Scanning electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering with the time-resolved fluorescence quenching technique were used for the experiments on the solid surface and in aqueous solution, respectively. As the results from the scanning electron microscopy indicate, the morphology of supramolecular structures of gemini surfactants at the solid surface depends on the spacer length. In aqueous solution, gemini surfactants with spacers consisting of 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 CH
2
groups form spherical micelles with diameters between 2 and 3.5 nm. Micelles of gemini surfactant with a short ethylene spacer show an increase in size up to 13 nm at the maximum concentration investigated. The aggregation number of micelles determined by time resolved fluorescence quenching was found to be in the range 14–25 for the spacer lengths from 6 to 12 CH
2
groups with only a moderate increase with surfactant concentration. For micelles of gemini surfactants with the short ethylene spacer, the increase of the aggregation number up to 50 at the maximum concentration was observed. The findings support micellar growth of gemini surfactants with short ethylene spacer.