Surface tension surfactant structure

Phosphorus-containing surfactants are amphiphilic molecules, exhibiting the same surface-active properties as other surfactants. That means that they reduce the surface tension of water and aqueous solutions, are adsorbed at interfaces, form foam, and are able to build micelles in the bulk phase. On account of the many possibilities for alteration of molecular structure, the surface-active properties of phosphorus-containing surfactants cover a wide field of effects. Of main interest are those properties which can only be realized with difficulty or in some cases not at all by other surfactants. Often even quantitative differences are highly useful. 

Surfactants have a unique long-chain molecular structure composed of a hydrophilic head and hydrophobic tail. Based on the nature of the hydrophilic part surfactants are generally categorized as anionic, non-ionic, cationic, and zwitter-ionic. They all have a natural tendency to adsorb at surfaces and interfaces when added in low concentration in water. Surfactant absorption/desorption at the vapor-liquid interface alters the surface tension, which decreases continually with increasing concentrations until the critical micelle concentration (CMC), at which micelles (colloid-sized clusters or aggregates of monomers) start to form is reached (Manglik et al. 2001 Hetsroni et al. 2003c). 

A special class ofblock copolymers with blocks of very different polarity is known as amphiphilic (Figure 10.1). In general, the word amphiphile is used to describe molecules that stabilize the oil-water interface (e.g., surfactants). To a certain extent, amphiphilic block copolymers allow the generalization of amphi-philicity. This means that molecules can be designed that stabilize not only the oil-water interface but any interface between different materials with different cohesion energies or surface tensions (e.g., water-gas, oil-gas, polymer-metal, or polymer-polymerinterfaces). This approach is straightforward, since the wide variability of the chemical structure of polymers allows fine and specific adjustment of both polymer parts to any particular stabilization problem. 

Performance Indices Quality Factors Optimum E1LB Critical micelle concentration (CMC) Soil solubilization capacity Krafft point (ionic surfactants only) Cloud point (nonionic surfactants only) Viscosity Calcium binding capacity Surface tension reduction at CMC Dissolution time Material and/or structural attributes... 

LDAO/SDS Interaction. Mixing of cationic and anionic surfactant solutions results In the formation of a mixed species that Is more surface active than the Individual species. The enhanced synergistic effect has been explained (2,3) by showing that a close-packed adsorption of electroneutral R R takes place (R" " and R represent the long chain cation and anion respectively). In the case of Ci2 and C14-DAO, a 1 1 LDAO/SDS molar ratio produces a minimum In surface tension and Is accompanied by an Increase In pH In the bulk solution the association seems to be of the type R R", and the absence of visible precipitate may be attributed to the solubilization of the R R" complex In the solution. In the region where LDAO Is In excess, the structure Is probably [cationic (LDAOH ) anionic (SDS)] nonlonlc (LDAO), while [cationic (LDAOH anionic (SDS)] anionic (SDS) Is formed when SDS Is In excess. Equal molar concentration results In cationic (LDAOH ) anionic (SDS) complex which should favor precipitation. However, at pH >9, there Is no Indication of precipitation (even when the total solute concentration Is 0.35 M). When the pH Is below 9, then precipitation will take place. 

CED values can be determined from surface tension measurements, (2) the effects of particular molecular components of surfactant molecules on surface tension and CED can be addressed, and (3) the emulsion type and stability can be evaluated based on either molecular structure surface tension and/or CED. 

The solubility characteristics of surfactants (in water) is one of the most studied phenomena. Even though the molecular structures of surfactants are rather simple, their solubility in water is rather complex as compared to other amphiphiles such as long-chain alcohols, etc., in that it is dependent on the alkyl group. This is easily seen since the alkyl groups will behave mostly as alkanes. The hydrophobic alkyl part exhibits solubility in water, which has been related to a surface tension model of the cavity (see Appendix B). However, it is found additionally that the solubility... 

As is known, if one blows air bubbles in pure water, no foam is formed. On the other hand, if a detergent or protein (amphiphile) is present in the system, adsorbed surfactant molecules at the interface produce foam or soap bubble. Foam can be characterized as a coarse dispersion of a gas in a liquid, where the gas is the major phase volume. The foam, or the lamina of liquid, will tend to contract due to its surface tension, and a low surface tension would thus be expected to be a necessary requirement for good foam-forming property. Furthermore, in order to be able to stabilize the lamina, it should be able to maintain slight differences of tension in its different regions. Therefore, it is also clear that a pure liquid, which has constant surface tension, cannot meet this requirement. The stability of such foams or bubbles has been related to monomolecular film structures and stability. For instance, foam stability has been shown to be related to surface elasticity or surface viscosity, qs, besides other interfacial forces. 

Below the CMC, the surfactant mixing in monolayers composed of similarly structured surfactants approximately obeys ideal solution theory. This means that the total surfactant concentration required to attain a specified surface tension for a mixture is intermediate between those concentrations for the pure surfactants involved. For mixtures of ionic/nonionic or anionic/cationic surfactants, below the CMC, the surfactant mixing in the monolayer exhibits negative deviation from ideality (i.e., the surfactant concentration required to attain a specified surface tension is less than that predicted from ideal solution theory). The same guidelines already discussed to select surfactant mixtures which have low monomer concentrations when micelles are present would also apply to the selection of surfactants which would reduce surface tension below the CMC. 

In a previous publication ( ), results were presented on the micellar properties of binary mixtures of surfactant solutions consisting of alkyldimethylamine oxide (C12 to Cig alkyl chains) and sodium dodecyl sulfate. It was reported that upon mixing, striking alteration in physical properties was observed, most notably in the viscosity, surface tension, and bulk pH values. These changes were attributed to 1) formation of elongated structures, 2) protonation of amine oxide molecules, and 3) adsorption of hydronium ions on the mixed micelle surface. In addition, possible solubilisation of a less soluble 1 1 complex, form between the protonated amine oxide and the long chain sulfate was also considered. 

The conditions for synergism in surface tension reduction efficiency, mixed micelle formation, and Surface tension reduction effectiveness in aqueous solution have been derived mathematically together with the properties of the surfactant mixture at the point of maximum synergism. This treatment has been extended to liquid-liquid (aqueous solution/hydrocarbon) systems at low surfactant concentrations.) The effect of chemical structure and molecular environment on the value of B is demonstrated and discussed. 

CnSOC-CyFNa (nonionic-anionic) system. In order to avoid the complex structure and function of polyoxyethylene group.in a common nonionic surfactant (e.g. TX100), we use octylmethyl sulfoxide as a partner in the pair system to study the molecular interactions. The surface tension of the surfactants solutions (with and without adding salt) are shown in fig.6 and 7. The surface properties of 1 1 CgSOC-CyFNa system with adding salt (from Fig.6) are shown in Table 7. 

At very low surface coverage at the air—water interface, a phase transition is thought to occur where the sparsely covered surface forms aggregated structures on the surface 122 ) m It would be of great scientific interest to study this transition for mixed surfactant systems. The surface tension would need to be measured very accurately and very pure surfactants would need to be used for this study. 

Specific formulation strategies need to be employed for macromolecule compounds. An excellent review of protein stability in aqueous solutions has been published by Chi et al. (92). In addition to solution stability of proteins and peptides, aerosolization may result in significant surface interfacial destabilization of these compounds if no additional stabilization excipients are added. This is due to the fact that protein molecules are also surface active and adsorb at interfaces. The surface tension forces at interfaces perturb protein structure and often result in aggregation (92). Surfactants inhibit interface-induced aggregation by limiting the extent of protein adsorption (92). 

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