On the dissolution of vapors and gases

Formation, physicochemical and interfacial study of carbamate surfactants

Carbon dioxide is commonly used as pH regulator in switchable surfactant systems and in the formation of alkyl ammonium-alkyl carbamate ion-pair. Its use to form a meta-stable anionic surfactant has been less explored and can impart a cleavable character to the amphiphile. The reaction between CO₂ and an alkylamine, N,N-di(propylamino)dodecylamine (Y12-amine), under alkaline pH conditions, produced a stable anionic carbamate-based surfactant (Y12-carbamate). By heating and exposure to N₂, anionic Y12-carbamate could slowly be reverted into Y12-amine. The surface activity of Y12-amine and Y12-carbamate was investigated by surface tension measurements. To study the behavior of Y12-amine at the gas-water interface during CO₂ exposure, we used the pendant drop technique with a sealed chamber where the gas composition could be controlled. The Y12-carbamate had a higher CMC than Y12-amine at pH 12, and was also less surface active. The ion pair Y12-ammonium - Y12-carbamate, obtained at neutral pH, exhibited the lowest CMC and the highest surface activity. The interfacial formation of anionic Y12-carbamate induced an increase in surface tension. When CO₂ was exchanged to N₂, the migration from the bulk to the interface of Y12-amine induced a decrease in surface tension. The rate was dependent on the concentration of Y12-amine.

Scavenging dissolved oxygen via acoustic droplet vaporization

Acoustic droplet vaporization (ADV) of perfluorocarbon emulsions has been explored for diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Previous studies have demonstrated that vaporization of a liquid droplet results in a gas microbubble with a diameter 5-6 times larger than the initial droplet diameter. The expansion factor can increase to a factor of 10 in gassy fluids as a result of air diffusing from the surrounding fluid into the microbubble. This study investigates the potential of this process to serve as an ultrasound-mediated gas scavenging technology. Perfluoropentane droplets diluted in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) were insonified by a 2 MHz transducer at peak rarefactional pressures lower than and greater than the ADV pressure amplitude threshold in an in vitro flow phantom. The change in dissolved oxygen (DO) of the PBS before and after ADV was measured. A numerical model of gas scavenging, based on conservation of mass and equal partial pressures of gases at equilibrium, was developed. At insonation pressures exceeding the ADV threshold, the DO of air-saturated PBS decreased with increasing insonation pressures, dropping as low as 25% of air saturation within 20s. The decrease in DO of the PBS during ADV was dependent on the volumetric size distribution of the droplets and the fraction of droplets transitioned during ultrasound exposure. Numerically predicted changes in DO from the model agreed with the experimentally measured DO, indicating that concentration gradients can explain this phenomenon. Using computationally modified droplet size distributions that would be suitable for in vivo applications, the DO of the PBS was found to decrease with increasing concentrations. This study demonstrates that ADV can significantly decrease the DO in an aqueous fluid, which may have direct therapeutic applications and should be considered for ADV-based diagnostic or therapeutic applications.

Surface tension of water in the presence of perfluorocarbon vapors

Fluorocarbons are highly hydrophobic, biocompatible compounds with a variety of medical applications. Despite significant interest, the study of interfacial properties of fluorocarbons in aqueous systems has received limited attention. In this study, we investigate the influence of perfluoropentane and perfluorohexane vapors on the surface tension of water at room temperature. The results show a substantial decrease in the surface tension of water in the presence of perfluorocarbon vapors. In the investigated range of partial pressures up to the saturation value, a linear correlation between the surface tension and the partial pressure was found. This suggests that an adsorbed perfluorocarbon layer is formed on the surface of water. For comparison, the effect of the perfluorocarbon vapor on the surface tension of methanol was also investigated and a similar dependence was observed. Our results indicate that the stability and dynamic transitions of fluorocarbon colloids, which may be dispersed under physiological conditions as microdroplets, bubbles, or their combination, are likely affected by the composition of liquid and gas phases.

The influence of gas saturation on microbubble stability

Accurate acoustic characterisation is an essential component of any experimental investigation concerning the use and development of microbubble contrast agents. It is of increasing importance as applications such as therapy and molecular and quantitative imaging are investigated. Such characterisation is generally conducted in the laboratory in the form of bulk acoustic studies or optical observation of single bubbles using high speed photography in a water tank containing "out-gassed" water. The approach is widely used in acoustics to prevent inaccurate measurements being made due to the presence of gas bubbles settling on instrumentation, however, the term is often used to cover a range of water preparation techniques and the final gas content of the water is not usually stated. This technical note demonstrates the influence of gas content on the stability of microbubble contrast agents and concludes that characterisation should always be conducted in equilibrated, gas-saturated water to ensure accurate and repeatable measurements are made.

Comparison of surfactants used to prepare aqueous perfluoropentane emulsions for pharmaceutical applications

Perfluoropentane (PFP), a very hydrophobic, nontoxic, noncarcinogenic fluoroalkane, has generated much interest in biomedical applications, including occlusion therapy and controlled drug delivery. For most of these applications, the dispersion within aqueous media of a large quantity of PFP droplets of the proper size is critically important. Surprisingly, the interfacial tension of PFP against water in the presence of surfactants used to stabilize the emulsion has rarely, if ever, been measured. In this study, we report the interfacial tension of PFP in the presence of surfactants used in previous studies to produce emulsions for biomedical applications: polyethylene oxide-co-polylactic acid (PEO-PLA) and polyethylene oxide-co-poly-epsilon-caprolactone (PEO-PCL). Because both of these surfactants are uncharged diblock copolymers that rely on the mechanism of steric stabilization, we also investigate for comparison's sake the use of the small-molecule cationic surfactant cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) and the much larger protein surfactant bovine serum albumin (BSA). The results presented here complement previous reports of the PFP droplet size distribution and will be useful for determining to what extent the interfacial tension value can be used to control the mean PFP droplet size.

Current perspectives in pulmonary surfactant--inhibition, enhancement and evaluation

Pulmonary surfactant (PS) is a complicated mixture of approximately 90% lipids and 10% proteins. It plays an important role in maintaining normal respiratory mechanics by reducing alveolar surface tension to near-zero values. Supplementing exogenous surfactant to newborns suffering from respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), a leading cause of perinatal mortality, has completely altered neonatal care in industrialized countries. Surfactant therapy has also been applied to the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) but with only limited success. Biophysical studies suggest that surfactant inhibition is partially responsible for this unsatisfactory performance. This paper reviews the biophysical properties of functional and dysfunctional PS. The biophysical properties of PS are further limited to surface activity, i.e., properties related to highly dynamic and very low surface tensions. Three main perspectives are reviewed. (1) How does PS permit both rapid adsorption and the ability to reach very low surface tensions? (2) How is PS inactivated by different inhibitory substances and how can this inhibition be counteracted? A recent research focus of using water-soluble polymers as additives to enhance the surface activity of clinical PS and to overcome inhibition is extensively discussed. (3) Which in vivo, in situ, and in vitro methods are available for evaluating the surface activity of PS and what are their relative merits? A better understanding of the biophysical properties of functional and dysfunctional PS is important for the further development of surfactant therapy, especially for its potential application in ARDS.