Hydrophilic group formation

In highly diluted solutions the surfactants are monodispersed and are enriched by hydrophil-hydrophobe-oriented adsorption at the surface. If a certain concentration which is characteristic for each surfactant is exceeded, the surfactant molecules congregate to micelles. The inside of a micelle consists of hydrophobic groups whereas its surface consists of hydrophilic groups. Micelles are dynamic entities that are in equilibrium with their surrounded concentration. If the solution is diluted and remains under the characteristic concentration, micelles dissociate to single molecules. The concentration at which micelle formation starts is called critical micelle concentration (cmc). Its value is characteristic for each surfactant and depends on several parameters [189-191] ... 

On the other hand, in.the case of the nonionic surfactants C-15, NP-15 and 0-15 (the nonionic surfactant/cyclohexane system), mono-dispersed silicalite nanocrystals were obtained as shown in Fig. 1(c), 1(d) and 1(e), respectively. The X-ray diffraction patterns of the samples showed peaks corresponding to pentasile-type zeolite. The average size of the silicalite nanocrystals was approximately 120 nm. These results indicated that the ionicity of the hydrophilic groups in the surfactant molecules played an important role in the formation and crystallization processes of the silicalite nanocrystals. 

The peripheral substitution with hydrophobic chains on one hemisphere and hydrophilic groups on the other provides the perfect hydrophobic/hydrophilic balance allowing the formation of stable Langmuir films. In addition, a perfect reversibility has been observed in successive compression/decompression cycles (Fig. 18). 

The formation of inter- and intrapolymer complexes has also been shown to affect the polymerization kinetics. For example, Ferguson and Shah (1968) investigated the influence of intrapolymer complexation on the kinetics of AA in the presence of copolymer matrices composed of either A-vinylpyrrolidone and acrylamide or A--vi nyl pyrrol idone and styrene. The polymerization rate reaches a maximum in the vicinity of AA to VP ratio equal to one for the VP/AAm matrix. This maximum in the polymerization rate is most pronounced in the presence of copolymer with the highest content of VP. When the hydrophilic acrylamide is replaced with the more hydrophobic styrene monomer in the copolymer matrix, the observed maximum in AA polymerization rate occurred at a lower than equimolar ratio of AA to VP. The hydrophilic groups of VP were interacting with the hydrophobic nucleus consisting of the styrene units in the VP/St copolymer, and were thus unable to participate in the formation of the complex unlike in the case of VP/AAm copolymer matrix. 

Arachidic acid monolayers were prepared from a benzene solution on the water subphase of pH5.8(pure water) and 12.6(adjusted by addition of NaOH) at Tsp of 303 K below Tm(=328 K) of the monolayer [31]. The ionic dissociation state of hydrophilic group was estimated on the basis of the stretching vibrations of carbonyl and carboxylate groups by Fourier transform-infrared attenuated total reflection, FT-IR ATR measurements. 70 arachidic acid monolayers were transferred on germanium ATR prism, resulting in the formation of the multi-layered film. Transfer on the prism was carried out at surface pressures of 25 or 28 mN-nr1. Infrared absorption measurements revealed that almost carboxylic groups of arachidic acid molecules did not dissociate on the water subphase of pH5.8, whereas all carboxylic groups dissociated as carboxylate ions on the water subphase of pH 12.6. 

Interfacial behavior of different silicones was extensively studied, as indicated in Section 3.12.4.6. To add a few more examples, solution behavior of water-soluble polysiloxanes carrying different pendant hydrophilic groups, thus differing in hydrophobicity, was reported.584 A study of the aggregation phenomena of POSS in the presence of amphiphilic PDMS at the air/water interface was conducted in an attempt to elucidate nanofiller-aggregation mechanisms.585 An interesting phenomenon of the spontaneous formation of stable microtopographical surface domains, composed primarily of PDMS surrounded by polyurethane matrix, was observed in the synthesis of a cross-linked PDMS-polyurethane films.586... 

Performance of surfactants is closely related to surface activity and to micelle formation. Both these are due to amphiphilic nature of the surfactant molecule. The molecule contains a nonpolar hydrophobic part, usually, a hydrocarbon chain, and a polar hydrophilic group, which may be nonionic, zwitterionic, or ionic. When the hydrophobic group is a long straight chain of hydrocarbon, the micelle has a small liquid like hydrocarbon core (1,2). The primary driving... 

To understand micelle formation quantitatively, critical micelle concentrations (cmc) have to be determined for a large number of surf actants ( 5 ). When the cmc values of the surfactants with the same hydrophilic group (a homologous series) are examined, a nearly 3-fold decrease in cmc is observed for nonlonlc and zwitterionlc surfactants (1,2) upon the addition of a methylene group into the hydrocarbon chain, whereas, a 2-fold or only 1.8-fold reduction in cmc can be observed for univalent (1,2) and blvalent( ) ionic surfactants,respectively. 

The digestion and absorption of fat is considerably more complex than that of carbohydrate or protein because it is insoluble in water, whereas almost aU enzymes catalyse reactions in an aqueous medium. In such media, fat can form small droplets, an emulsion, which is stable in this medium. Formation of an emulsion is aided by the presence of detergents these possess hydrophobic and hydrophilic groups, so that they associate with both the fat and the aqueous phases. Such compounds are known as emulsifying agents and those involved in digestion are mainly the bile salts and phospholipids. 

In addition to electrostatic -forces, another contribution to nonideality is due to the -formation o-f oxonium salts in the hydrophilic group o-f the nonionic... 

The adsorption of mixed surfactants at the air—water interface (monolayer formation) is mechanistically very similar to mixed micelle formation. The mixed monolayer is oriented so that the surfactant hydrophilic groups are adjacent to each other. The hydrophobic groups are removed from the aqueous environment and are in contact with other hydrophobic groups or air. Therefore, the forces tending to cause monolayers to form are similar to those causing micelles to form and the thermodynamics and interactions between surfactants are similar in the two aggregation processes. 

The same effect is seen when a non—aromatic cationic surfactant/nonionic surfactant system is used. Since the nonideality of mixed micelle formation in this case is due almost entirely to the electrostatic effects and not to any specific interactions between the dissimilar hydrophilic groups, the geometrical effect just discussed will cause the EO groups to be less compactly structured... 

McBain pointed out that this seemingly anomalous behaviour could be explained in terms of organised aggregates, or micelles, of the surfactant ions in which the lipophilic hydrocarbon chains are orientated towards the interior of the micelle, leaving the hydrophilic groups in contact with the aqueous medium. The concentration above which micelle formation becomes appreciable is termed the critical micelle concentration (c.m.c.). 

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