Surfactant molecules cross-linking

Concerning immobilization technology, many methods have been tested to improve bio-receptor stability and to conserve its bioactivity. The most widely used methods of immobilization are (i) physical or chemical adsorption on a sofid surface (ii) covalent binding (iii) entrapment within a membrane, surfactant matrix, polymer or mictocapsule (iv) cross-linking between molecules. 

The process utilizing supramolecular organization involves pore expansion in silicas. A schematic view of such micelles built from the pure surfactant and those involving in addition n-alkane is shown in Figure 4.9. Another example of pore creation provides a cross-linking polymerization of monomers within the surfactant bilayer [30]. As a result vesicle-templated hollow spheres are created. Dendrimers like that shown in Figure 4.10 exhibit some similarity to micellar structures and can host smaller molecules inside themselves [2c]. Divers functionalized dendrimers that are thought to present numerous prospective applications will be presented in Section 7.6. 

In the case of the rather porous and flexible structure of sodium caseinate nanoparticles, the data show that the interaction with surfactants causes a tendency towards the shrinkage of the aggregates, most likely due to the enhanced cross-linking in their interior as a result of the protein-surfactant interaction. This appears most pronounced for the case of the anionic surfactants (CITREM and SSL) interacting with the sodium caseinate nanoparticles. Consistent with this same line of interpretation, a surfactant-induced contraction of gelatin molecules of almost 30% has been demonstrated as a result of interaction with the anionic surfactant a-olefin sulfonate (Abed and Bohidar, 2004). 

Figure 12.12b illustrates the application of gel electrophoresis to protein characterization. In this illustration a cross-linked polyacrylamide gel is the site of the electrophoretic migration of proteins that have been treated with sodium dodecyl sulfate. The surfactant dissociates the protein molecules into their constituent polypeptide chains. The results shown in Figure 12.12b were determined with well-characterized polypeptide standards and serve as a calibration curve in terms of which the mobility of an unknown may be interpreted to yield the molecular weight of the protein. As with any experiment that relies on prior calibration, the successful application of this method requires that the unknown and the standard be treated in the same way. This includes such considerations as the degree of cross-linking in the gel, the pH of the medium, and the sodium dodecyl sulfate concentration. The last two factors affect the charge of the protein molecules by dissociation and adsorption, respectively. Example 12.5 considers a similar application of electrophoresis. 

The first pathway is the formation of mixed micelles or hemimicelles, composed of polymer-bound hydrophobes comicellized with surfactant molecules. Intermolecular physical cross-links often enhance the viscosity of the micellar solutions. The second pathway is intramolecular comicellization so that the hydrodynamic size of the associates contracts. 

Surface active polymers, such as proteins, can give very stable films. The main explanation will be a not very small y value and a strong repulsion acting at a relatively large distance, but there seem to be other factors involved. In some cases, a correlation between film stability and the apparent surface shear viscosity rjfs of AW or O W surfactant layers has been observed, but there are exceptions as well. Molecular size or the thickness of the surface layers may be involved and probably also the layer coherence. Film rupture would also need a kind of disruption of the adsorption layers presumably, this will readily occur for most surfactants, but a layer of protein molecules that are somehow cross-linked may resist disruption. 

Polysaccharides with Surfactant Micelles. Consider a solution of a fairly hydrophobic polysaccharide, such as a cellulose ether. The hydrophobic groups cause a weak attractive interaction, leading to a somewhat increased viscosity at low shear rates. If an anionic small-molecule surfactant is added, say SDS (sodium dodecyl sulfate), at a concentration above the CMC (critical micellization concentration), micelles are formed that interact with the polymer more specifically, one or a few polymer chains can pass through a micelle. In this way, polymer chains can be cross-linked. If now the polymer concentration c is below c (the chain overlap concentration), mainly intramolecular junctions are formed. If c > c, however, a gel results. In this manner, viscoelastic gels can be made with a modulus of the order of 10 Pa. 

A solution of a moderately hydrophobic polysaccharide can often be made to gel by adding a small-molecule surfactant at a concentration above the CMC. The surfactant then makes micelles through many of which one or more polysaccharide chains pass, thereby forming cross-links. A fairly weak gel results. 

The determination of binding and conformational changes leaves the question of the detailed structure of complexes unanswered. At present there is no absolute method for structure determination of protein-surfactant complexes apart from x-ray diffraction, which has only been applied to lysozyme with three bound SDS molecules [49]. X-ray diffraction requires a crystal, so in the case of lysozyme cross-linked triclinic crystals of the protein were soaked in 1.1 M SDS and then transferred to water or a lower concentration (0.35 M) of SDS to allow the protein to refold. It was necessary to use cross-linked crystals to prevent them dissolving when exposed to a high SDS concentration. The resulting denatured-renatured crystals were found to have three SDS molecules within a structure that was similar but not identical to that of native lysosyme. Neutron scattering has been applied in a few cases (see Sec. IX), but this is a model-dependent technique. 

X HE USE OF HYDROPHOBIC INTERACTIONS to produce associative thickeners has increased markedly over the past 10 years in such diverse areas as surface coatings and enhanced oil recovery. The desired thickening properties are produced by relatively low molecular weight polymers that are reversibly cross-linked by pendant hydrophobic moieties to give a three-dimensional network. To maintain solubility, the number of hydrophobes per soluble molecule is low, and the chain length is typical of that used in surfactants (i.e., Cs-Cie). In solution, the hydrophobes appear to associate in an analogous fashion to micellization, in that, in the absence of surfactants. 

Polymer-surfactant interactions are the basis for the rheological behavior of MHAPs. Other surfactant-polymer systems have previously been investigated. One example is the interaction of surfactants with polymers such as poly(ethylene oxide), which results in greater solution viscosities than with the polymer alone (e.g., ref. 25 and references therein). The interaction of surfactants or latexes with hydrophobically modified water-soluble polymers has also been shown to produce unique rheology (2, 5, 26, 27). In these systems, the latex particles or the surfactant micelles serve as reversible cross-link points with a hydrophobic region of a polymer molecule in dynamic association with a latex particle or surfactant micelle (27). 

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