Investigation on solvent casting films of surfactant-encapsulated clusters.
The surfactant-encapsulated cluster (SEC) composed of a hydrophobic dimethyl dioctadecyl ammonium (DODA) shell and an encapsulated hydrophilic polyoxoanion core can form casting films. The structure of the casting film is influenced by evaporation rates of organic solvent. When the casting films are prepared by slow evaporation of chloroform, the alkyl chains are considered to possess a partial interdigitation, and the interdigitated length is 1.6 nm. The casting film structure is characterized by scanning force microscopy (SFM), Fourier transformation infrared (FT-IR), wide-angle X-ray diffraction, and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC).
Polyoxometalates matrixed into surfactants: synthesis, characterizations, and conformations of surfactants.
We synthesized two surfactant-encapsulated polyoxometalate (POM) clusters (SECs), (DODA)(15)[H(3)Mo(57)V(6)(NO)(6)O(189)(H(2)O)(12)(VO)(6)].13H(2)O (SEC-2, DODA: dimethyldioctadecyl ammonium) and (DODA)(12)[Eu(H(2)O)P(5)W(30)O(110)].28H(2)O (SEC-3). SECs were characterized in detail by elemental analysis, UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy, FTIR, 1H NMR, thermogravimetric analysis, Langmuir isotherms, and powdered X-ray diffractions. SEC-2 can form a stable monolayer at the air-water interface. SEC-2 and SEC-3 possess a layered structure with periodicities of 3.8 and 5.05 nm, respectively. Alkyl chains in SEC-2 are disordered, but SEC-3 is indicative of well-ordered alkyl chains. According to the simplified structural analysis for SEC-2 and SEC-3, DODAs occupy areas of 1.12 and 0.589 nm(2) on the surface of the POMs, which are characteristic of the liquid-like and crystalline-like phases for DODA, respectively. The different conformations of DODAs then lead to the different packing structures of SECs. This work is aiming to control the organizational structures of the POM-based materials by selecting the appropriate POMs.
Supramolecular Membranes. Spontaneous Assembly of Aqueous Bilayer Membrane via Formation of Hydrogen Bonded Pairs of Melamine and Cyanuric Acid Derivatives
Amphiphilic hydrogen bond networks consisting of alkylated melamines and ammonium headgroup-appended cyanuric acids are stably dispersed in water as supramolecular membranes. Electron micrographs of these aqueous dispersions indicated the formation of supramolecular assemblies of mesoscopic dimension. Their aggregate morphologies, molecular orientation, and thermal characteristics are markedly dependent on the chemical structure of constituent molecules. Self-supporting multilayer films were obtainable by casting the aqueous dispersions, like the conventional aqueous bilayer. X-ray diffraction of the cast films indicated that hydrogen bonded pairs of ammonium-appended cyanuric acid and double-chained melamine adopted the bilayer structure. On the other hand, complementary pairs formed from single-chained melamines adopted partially or completely interdigitated bilayers. The long period of the former cast film (ca. 9 nm) is in good agreement with the thickness of disklike aggregates observed in electron mi...