Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Oligomeric surfactants'

Thesis (Ph. D.)--School of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Sydney, 2006.
Title from title screen (viewed 13 January 2009). Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the School of Chemistry, Faculty of Science. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print form.

Oligomeric surfactants, sometimes referred to as gemini surfactants, consist of two or more amphiphilic ‘monomer’ units linked together by spacer groups. The chemical identity of the spacer group is unconstrained, and it joins the individual units at or near the hydrophilic headgroups. Oligomeric surfactants display a range of interesting properties, including very low critical micelle concentrations, high surface activity and unusual rheology and self-assembly. Consequently they have many potential applications, both scientific and industrial. Until now, their use has been limited by the cost of their synthesis, which in some cases involve long and difficult procedures. This project developed from the idea that a synthesis based on polymerization could prove a useful and versatile method for producing these surfactants. The chemical starting point for this project was a series of polymerizable surfactants (‘surfmers’), upon which polymerization was performed. Two families of surfmers were investigated, both cationic and based on methacrylate and vinylpyridinium moieties respectively. The physical behaviour of these surfactants – a number of which are new – was investigated using standard techniques; these included the determination of the critical micelle concentration, characterization of phase behaviour, neutron scattering and surface adsorption. In producing oligomers, the initial focus was on free-radical polymerization, with control of molecular weight to be achieved by chain-transfer techniques. Due largely to analysis problems, this work proved unsuccessful. In its place a new reaction, not based on conventional polymerization methods, has been developed. The vinylpyridinium surfmers mentioned above readily undergo addition across the double bond to produce alkyl ring substituents. Under basic conditions, these alkylpyridiniums undergo an elimination/addition reaction in which they link together to form oligomers. This reaction can be started or stopped by raising or lowering the pH of the reaction solution, and has been performed in both organic and aqueous solutions. It is referred to in this thesis as LELA(Linkage by ELimination/Addition). The LELA reaction was used to produce mixtures of oligomers, the phase behaviour and surface adsorption of which were examined. Small-angle neutron scattering was used to monitor the reaction in real time and identify changes in self-assembly as the average oligomer length increased. Progress was also made towards a chromatographic protocol that would allow mixtures to be separated into their components and the pure oligomers to be studied. Finally, some of the compounds studied display interesting pH-dependent chromophoric properties which were also found to occur with other simple alkylpyridinium species. They are tentatively ascribed to inter- and intramolecular charge-transfer complexes, and evidence towards this conclusion was collected and is presented along with relevant calculations.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Oligomeric surfactants, sometimes referred to as gemini surfactants, consist of two or more amphiphilic ‘monomer’ units linked together by spacer groups. The chemical identity of the spacer group is unconstrained, and it joins the individual units at or near the hydrophilic headgroups. Oligomeric surfactants display a range of interesting properties, including very low critical micelle concentrations, high surface activity and unusual rheology and self-assembly. Consequently they have many potential applications, both scientific and industrial. Until now, their use has been limited by the cost of their synthesis, which in some cases involve long and difficult procedures. This project developed from the idea that a synthesis based on polymerization could prove a useful and versatile method for producing these surfactants. The chemical starting point for this project was a series of polymerizable surfactants (‘surfmers’), upon which polymerization was performed. Two families of surfmers were investigated, both cationic and based on methacrylate and vinylpyridinium moieties respectively. The physical behaviour of these surfactants – a number of which are new – was investigated using standard techniques; these included the determination of the critical micelle concentration, characterization of phase behaviour, neutron scattering and surface adsorption. In producing oligomers, the initial focus was on free-radical polymerization, with control of molecular weight to be achieved by chain-transfer techniques. Due largely to analysis problems, this work proved unsuccessful. In its place a new reaction, not based on conventional polymerization methods, has been developed. The vinylpyridinium surfmers mentioned above readily undergo addition across the double bond to produce alkyl ring substituents. Under basic conditions, these alkylpyridiniums undergo an elimination/addition reaction in which they link together to form oligomers. This reaction can be started or stopped by raising or lowering the pH of the reaction solution, and has been performed in both organic and aqueous solutions. It is referred to in this thesis as LELA(Linkage by ELimination/Addition). The LELA reaction was used to produce mixtures of oligomers, the phase behaviour and surface adsorption of which were examined. Small-angle neutron scattering was used to monitor the reaction in real time and identify changes in self-assembly as the average oligomer length increased. Progress was also made towards a chromatographic protocol that would allow mixtures to be separated into their components and the pure oligomers to be studied. Finally, some of the compounds studied display interesting pH-dependent chromophoric properties which were also found to occur with other simple alkylpyridinium species. They are tentatively ascribed to inter- and intramolecular charge-transfer complexes, and evidence towards this conclusion was collected and is presented along with relevant calculations.

Surfactants from the 'Triton' range, manufactured by Rohm and Haas, Germany, were used to study the adsorptive behaviour of non-ionic surfactants (of the alkyl polyoxyethylene type) from aqueous solution onto mineral oxide surfaces. The oligomeric distributions of the surfactants were characterised using the HPLC technique. Two gradients were used: a normal phase gradient was used to study the surfactants from non-aqueous solution; an unusual gradient, which could not be definitively categorised as either normal or reversed phase and which was developed at Brunel, was used to analyse surfactants directly from aqueous solution. Quartz was used as a model mineral oxide surface. The quartz surface was characterised using a range of techniques: scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence -analysis, Fourier transform-infra red spectroscopy and BET analysis. It was found that washing the quartz with concentrated HCI removed any calcium ions present on the surface and also removed 02- ions. Calcining the sample removed carbonaceous materials from the surface and also caused a decrease in the surface area. The quartz was shown to be non-porous by SEM and BET analysis. The adsorption experiments for this study were carried out using a simple tumbling method for which known ratios of surfactant in aqueous solution and quartz silica were mixed together for a known length of time. The amounts of surfactant present were measured using ultra-violet analysis and the HPLC techniques mentioned above. It was found that the smallest oligomers were adsorbed the most. An addition of salt to the system caused an overall increase in adsorption of the bulk surfactant, and increase in temperature caused an initial decrease in adsorbed amounts before the plateau of the isotherm and a final increase in bulk adsorption at the plateau of the isotherm. The oligomeric adsorption generally appeared to mirror the behaviour of the bulk surfactant. Atomic force microscopy (AFM), dynamic light and neutron scattering studies were used to analyse the character of the adsorbed surfactant layer. It was shown that the layer reached a finite thickness that corresponded to a bilayer of adsorbed surfactant. According to AFM data, this value of thickness was not consistent over the whole of the quartz surface.

The properties of a series of well-defined new surfactant oligomers (dimers to tetramers)were examined. From a molecular point of view, these oligomeric surfactants consist of simple monomeric cationic surfactant fragments coupled via the hydrophilic ammonium chloride head groups by spacer groups (different in nature and length). Properties of these cationic surfactant oligomers in aqueous solution such as solubility, micellization and surface activity, micellar size and aggregation number were discussed with respect to the two new molecular variables introduced, i.e. degree of oligomerization and spacer group, in order to establish structure – property relationships. Thus, increasing the degree of oligomerization results in a pronounced decrease of the critical micellization concentration (CMC). Both reduced spacer length and increased spacer hydrophobicity lead to a decrease of the CMC, but to a lesser extent. For these particular compounds, the formed micelles are relatively small and their aggregation number decreases with increasing the degree of oligomerization, increasing spacer length and sterical hindrance. In addition, pseudo-phase diagrams were established for the dimeric surfactants in more complex systems, namely inverse microemulsions, demonstrating again the important influence of the spacer group on the surfactant behaviour. Furthermore, the influence of additives on the property profile of the dimeric compounds was examined, in order to see if the solution properties can be improved while using less material. Strong synergistic effects were observed by adding special organic salts (e.g. sodium salicylate, sodium vinyl benzoate, etc.) to the surfactant dimers in stoichiometric amounts. For such mixtures, the critical aggregation concentration is strongly shifted to lower concentration, the effect being more pronounced for dimers than for analogous monomers. A sharp decrease of the surface tension can also be attained. Many of the organic anions produce viscoelastic solutions when added to the relatively short-chain dimers in aqueous solution, as evidenced by rheological measurements. This behaviour reflects the formation of entangled wormlike micelles due to strong interactions of the anions with the cationic surfactants, decreasing the curvature of the micellar aggregates. It is found that the associative behaviour is enhanced by dimerization. For a given counterion, the spacer group may also induce a stronger viscosifying effect depending on its length and hydrophobicity. Oppositely charged surfactants were combined with the cationic dimers, too. First, some mixtures with the conventional anionic surfactant SDS revealed vesicular aggregates in solution. Also, in view of these catanionic mixtures, a novel anionic dimeric surfactant based on EDTA was synthesized and studied. The synthesis route is relatively simple and the compound exhibits particularly appealing properties such as low CMC and σCMC values, good solubilization capacity of hydrophobic probes and high tolerance to hard water. Noteworthy, mixtures with particular cationic dimers gave rise to viscous solutions, reflecting the micelle growth.
Die Eigenschaften einer Reihe gut definierter neuer oligomerer Tenside (von Dimeren bis zu Tetrameren) wurden untersucht. Strukturell bestehen diese oligomeren Tenside aus einfachen monomeren kationischen Tensidfragmenten, die über die hydrophile Kopfgruppe (Tetraalkyl-Ammoniumchlorid) durch „Spacer“-Gruppen unterschiedlicher Natur und Länge miteinander verbunden/gekoppelt sind. Die Eigenschaften dieser kationischen oligomeren Tenside in wässriger Lösung wie Löslichkeit, kritische Mizellbildungskonzentration und Oberflächenaktivität, Mizellgröße und Aggregationszahl werden in Bezug auf die zwei neuen molekularen Variabeln (d.h. dem Oligomerisationsgrad und der Spacer-Gruppe) untersucht, um Struktur-Eigenschafts-Beziehungen abzuleiten. Die Erhöhung des Oligomerizationsgrads verringert stark die kritische Mizellbildungskonzentration (CMC). Eine kurze Spacer-Länge oder ein erhöhte Hydrophobie des Spacers erniedrigt die CMC ebenfalls, aber in einem geringeren Umfang. Die gebildeten Mizellen sind relativ klein und ihre Aggregationszahl nimmt mit zunehmendem Oligomerisationsgrad ab, genau wie mit zunehmender Spacerlänge oder sterischer Behinderung. Außerdem wurden Pseudo-Phasendiagramme für die Gemini-Tenside in komplexen Systemen, nämlich in inversen Mikroemulsionen untersucht. Auch hier zeigt die Spacer-Gruppe einen großen Einfluß auf das Tensidverhalten. Weiterhin wurde der Einfluss von Zusätzen auf das Eigenschaftsprofil der dimeren Tenside untersucht. Starke Synergien wurden beobachtet, wenn man spezielle organische Anionen (z.B. Natriumsalicylat, Natriumvinylbenzoat, etc.) zu den dimeren Tensiden in stöchiometrischen Mengen hinzugibt. Für solche Mischungen wird die Mizellbildungskonzentration stark zu niedrigen Konzentrationen verschoben, wobei der Effekt für die Dimere ausgeprägter als für die analogen Monomere ist. Eine Verringerung der Oberflächenspannung wird ebenfalls erreicht. Gemini-Tenside mit geeigneten Spacer-Gruppen bilden nach Zugabe ausgewählter organischer Anionen viskoelastische Lösungen, selbst wenn die dimeren Tenside nur über relativ kurz Alkylketten verfügen. Dies wurde mittels rheologischer Messungen gezeigt. Dieses Verhalten resultiert aus der Bildung langer Zylinder-Mizellen aufgrund der starken Wechselwirkung der Anionen mit den kationischen Tensiden, die die Krümmung der mizellaren Strukturen verringern. Es wurde auch festgestellt, dass das assoziative Verhalten durch die Dimerisation erhöht wird. Für ein gegebenes Gegenion kann die Spacer-Gruppe den verdickenden Effekt verstärken, in Abhängichkeit von seiner Länge und Hydrophobie. Als weitere Zusätze wurden entgegengesetzt geladene Tenside wurden mit den kationischen Dimeren kombiniert. Einige Mischungen mit dem käuflichen anionischen Tensid SDS bilden Vesikel in Lösung. Mit Blick auf diese katanionischen Mischungen wurde ein neues anionisches Gemini-Tensid, das auf EDTA basiert ist, synthetisiert und charakterisiert. Der Syntheseweg ist relativ einfach und das Tensid zeigt interessante Eigenschaften wie niedrige CMC- und scmc-Werte, gute Solubilisierungskapazität von hydrophoben Substanzen und hohe Toleranz gegen hartes Wasser. Mischungen dieses anionischen Tensids mit bestimmten kationischen Dimeren bilden visköse Lösungen, was ein starkes Mizell-Wachstum widerspiegelt.

Les propriétés de miscibilité en milieu aqueux de couples de tensioactifs non ioniques, dont la partie hydrophobe est respectivement hydrogènée et fluorée, sont étudiées. La variable essentielle est la longueur de la chaîne fluorée. Outre les diagrammes de phrase, une étude extrêmement complète des systèmes très dilués a été effectuée à l'aide de mesures de tension superficielle

Etude de la reduction electrochimique de l'acetophenone, l'oxyde de mesityle et l'ethylideneacetone en milieu aqueux en presence d'agents de surface anioniques (laurylsulfate de sodium), d'agents de surface cationiques (bromure de benzyltrimethylammonium et bromure de cetyltrimethylammonium) et d'agents de surface non ioniques (brij 35 et poly(oxyethylene))

L'adsorption de l'alkylphenolpolyethoxyle sur une poudre de charbon actif a ete etudiee seule, puis en presence de nacl et cacl::(2), d'alcool (ethanol a pentanol, tertiobutanol) et d'agents de surface anioniques