Tailored jeffamine molecular tools for ordering mesoporous silica

Physico-chemical properties and cytotoxic effects of sugar-based surfactants: Impact of structural variations

Surfactants derived from the biorefinery process can present interesting surface-active properties, low cytotoxicity, high biocompatibility and biodegradability. They are therefore considered as potential sustainable substitutes to currently used petroleum-based surfactants. To better understand and anticipate their performances, structure-property relationships need to be carefully investigated. For this reason, we applied a multidisciplinary approach to systematically explore the effect of subtle structural variations on both physico-chemical properties and biological effects. Four sugar-based surfactants, each with an eight carbon alkyl chain bound to a glucose or maltose head group by an amide linkage, were synthesized and evaluated together along with two commercially available standard surfactants. Physico-chemical properties including solubility, Krafft point, surface-tension lowering and critical micellar concentration (CMC) in water and biological medium were explored. Cytotoxicity evaluation by measuring proliferation index and metabolic activity against dermal fibroblasts showed that all surfactants studied may induce cell death at low concentrations (below their CMC). Results revealed significant differences in both physico-chemical properties and cytotoxic effects depending on molecule structural features, such as the position of the linkage on the sugar head-group, or the orientation of the amide linkage. Furthermore, the cytotoxic response increased with the reduction of surfactant CMC. This study underscores the relevance of a methodical and multidisciplinary approach that enables the consideration of surfactant solution properties when applied to biological materials. Overall, our results will contribute to a better understanding of the concomitant impact of surfactant structure at physico-chemical and biological levels.

Mixtures of lecithin and bile salt can form highly viscous wormlike micellar solutions in water

The self-assembly of biological surfactants in water is an important topic for study because of its relevance to physiological processes. Two common types of biosurfactants are lecithin (phosphatidylcholine) and bile salts, which are both present in bile and involved in digestion. Previous studies on lecithin-bile salt mixtures have reported the formation of short, rodlike micelles. Here, we show that lecithin-bile salt micelles can be further induced to grow into long, flexible wormlike structures. The formation of long worms and their resultant entanglement into transient networks is reflected in the rheology: the fluids become viscoelastic and exhibit Maxwellian behavior, and their zero-shear viscosity can be up to a 1000-fold higher than that of water. The presence of worms is further confirmed by data from small-angle neutron and X-ray scattering and from cryo-transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM). We find that micellar growth peaks at a specific molar ratio (near equimolar) of bile salt:lecithin, which suggests a strong binding interaction between the two species. In addition, micellar growth also requires a sufficient concentration of background electrolyte such as NaCl or sodium citrate that serves to screen the electrostatic repulsion of the amphiphiles and to "salt out" the amphiphiles. We postulate a mechanism based on changes in the molecular geometry caused by bile salts and electrolytes to explain the micellar growth.

Low Critical Micelle Concentration Discrepancy between Theory and Experiment

Experimental measurements for a variety of surfactants unexpectedly show that the critical micelle concentration (CMC) becomes constant with respect to increasing the size of the hydrophobic tail. This observation disagrees with theoretical models where it is expected to continue to decrease exponentially. Because of the lack of a satisfactory explanation for such a discrepancy from theory, we have studied these systems using a coarse-grained model within the single-chain mean field (SCMF) theory combined with relevant micellar kinetic effects. In particular, a microscopic model for poly(ethylene oxide) alkyl ether was applied to describe a series of nonionic gemini surfactants. When kinetic effects are used to correct the equilibrium CMC values from the SCMF scheme together with the loss of surfactants due to adsorption on the experimental recipient, it is possible to reproduce the correct order of magnitude of the experimental CMC results. Hence it appears that the experimental values disagree with the theoretical predictions because they are not true equilibrium values due to the fact that the time scales for these low CMC values become astronomically large.

Triblock siloxane copolymer surfactant: template for spherical mesoporous silica with a hexagonal pore ordering

Ordered mesoporous silica materials with a spherical morphology have been prepared for the first time through the cooperative templating mechanism (CTM) by using a silicone triblock copolymer as template. The behavior of the pure siloxane copolymer amphiphile in water was first investigated. A direct micellar phase (L(1)) and a hexagonal (H(1)) liquid crystal were found. The determination of the structural parameters by SAXS measurements leads us to conclude that in the hexagonal liquid crystal phase a part of the ethylene oxide group is not hydrated as observed for the micelles. Mesoporous materials were then synthesized from the cooperative templating mechanism. The recovered materials were characterized by SAXS measurements, nitrogen adsorption-desorption analysis, and transmission and scanning electron microscopy. The results clearly evidence that one can control the morphology and the nanostructuring of the resulting material by modifying the synthesis parameters. Actually, highly ordered mesoporous materials with a spherical morphology have been obtained with a siloxane copolymer/tetramethoxysilane molar ratio of 0.10 after hydrothermal treatment at 100 °C. Our study also supports the fact that the interactions between micelles and the hydrolyzed precursor are one of the key parameters governing the formation of ordered mesostructures through the cooperative templating mechanism. Indeed, we have demonstrated that when the interactions between micelles are important, only wormhole-like structures are recovered.