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Network formation of catanionic vesicles and oppositely charged polyelectrolytes. Effect of polymer charge density and hydrophobic modification

Antunes, Filipe LU ; Marques, E F ; Gomes, R ; Thuresson, Krister LU ; Lindman, Björn LU and Miguel, Maria LU (2004) In Langmuir 20(11). p.4647-4656
Abstract
In nonequimolar solutions of a cationic and an anionic surfactant, vesicles bearing a net charge can be spontaneously formed and apparently exist as thermodynamically stable aggregates. These vesicles can associate strongly with polymers in solution by means of hydrophobic and/or electrostatic interactions. In the current work, we have investigated the rheological and microstructural properties of mixtures of cationic polyelectrolytes and net anionic sodium dodecyl sulfate/didodecyldimethylammonium bromide vesicles. The polyelectrolytes consist of two cationic cellulose derivatives with different charge densities; the lowest charge density polymer contains also hydrophobic grafts, with the number of charges equal to the number of grafts.... (More)
In nonequimolar solutions of a cationic and an anionic surfactant, vesicles bearing a net charge can be spontaneously formed and apparently exist as thermodynamically stable aggregates. These vesicles can associate strongly with polymers in solution by means of hydrophobic and/or electrostatic interactions. In the current work, we have investigated the rheological and microstructural properties of mixtures of cationic polyelectrolytes and net anionic sodium dodecyl sulfate/didodecyldimethylammonium bromide vesicles. The polyelectrolytes consist of two cationic cellulose derivatives with different charge densities; the lowest charge density polymer contains also hydrophobic grafts, with the number of charges equal to the number of grafts. For both systems, polymer-vesicle association leads to a major increase in viscosity and to gel-like behavior, but the viscosity effects are more pronounced for the less charged, hydrophobically modified polymer. Evaluation of the frequency dependence of the storage and loss moduli for the two systems shows further differences in behavior: while the more long-lived cross-links occur for the more highly charged hydrophilic polymer, the number of cross-links is higher for the hydrophobically modified polymer. Microstructure studies by cryogenic transmission electron microscopy indicate that the two polymers affect the vesicle stability in different ways. With the hydrophobically modified polymer, the aggregates remain largely in the form of globular vesicles and faceted vesicles (polygon-shaped vesicles with largely planar regions). For the hydrophilic polycation, on the other hand, the surfactant aggregate structure is more extensively modified: first, the vesicles change from a globular to a faceted shape; second, there is opening of the bilayers leading to holey vesicles and ultimately to considerable vesicle disruption leading to planar bilayer, disklike aggregates. The faceted shape is tentatively attributed to a crystallization of the surfactant film in the vesicles. It is inferred that a hydrophobically modified polyion with relatively low charge density can better stabilize vesicles due to formation of molecularly mixed aggregates, while a hydrophilic polyion with relatively high charge density associates so strongly to the surfactant films, due to strong electrostatic interactions, that the vesicles are more perturbed and even disrupted. (Less)
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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Langmuir
volume
20
issue
11
pages
4647 - 4656
publisher
The American Chemical Society (ACS)
external identifiers
  • wos:000221537400048
  • pmid:15969177
  • scopus:2942594353
ISSN
0743-7463
DOI
10.1021/la049783i
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
a9594485-f343-4080-aa41-fef295b21010 (old id 153877)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 11:42:09
date last changed
2022-01-26 08:56:07
@article{a9594485-f343-4080-aa41-fef295b21010,
  abstract     = {{In nonequimolar solutions of a cationic and an anionic surfactant, vesicles bearing a net charge can be spontaneously formed and apparently exist as thermodynamically stable aggregates. These vesicles can associate strongly with polymers in solution by means of hydrophobic and/or electrostatic interactions. In the current work, we have investigated the rheological and microstructural properties of mixtures of cationic polyelectrolytes and net anionic sodium dodecyl sulfate/didodecyldimethylammonium bromide vesicles. The polyelectrolytes consist of two cationic cellulose derivatives with different charge densities; the lowest charge density polymer contains also hydrophobic grafts, with the number of charges equal to the number of grafts. For both systems, polymer-vesicle association leads to a major increase in viscosity and to gel-like behavior, but the viscosity effects are more pronounced for the less charged, hydrophobically modified polymer. Evaluation of the frequency dependence of the storage and loss moduli for the two systems shows further differences in behavior: while the more long-lived cross-links occur for the more highly charged hydrophilic polymer, the number of cross-links is higher for the hydrophobically modified polymer. Microstructure studies by cryogenic transmission electron microscopy indicate that the two polymers affect the vesicle stability in different ways. With the hydrophobically modified polymer, the aggregates remain largely in the form of globular vesicles and faceted vesicles (polygon-shaped vesicles with largely planar regions). For the hydrophilic polycation, on the other hand, the surfactant aggregate structure is more extensively modified: first, the vesicles change from a globular to a faceted shape; second, there is opening of the bilayers leading to holey vesicles and ultimately to considerable vesicle disruption leading to planar bilayer, disklike aggregates. The faceted shape is tentatively attributed to a crystallization of the surfactant film in the vesicles. It is inferred that a hydrophobically modified polyion with relatively low charge density can better stabilize vesicles due to formation of molecularly mixed aggregates, while a hydrophilic polyion with relatively high charge density associates so strongly to the surfactant films, due to strong electrostatic interactions, that the vesicles are more perturbed and even disrupted.}},
  author       = {{Antunes, Filipe and Marques, E F and Gomes, R and Thuresson, Krister and Lindman, Björn and Miguel, Maria}},
  issn         = {{0743-7463}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{11}},
  pages        = {{4647--4656}},
  publisher    = {{The American Chemical Society (ACS)}},
  series       = {{Langmuir}},
  title        = {{Network formation of catanionic vesicles and oppositely charged polyelectrolytes. Effect of polymer charge density and hydrophobic modification}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/la049783i}},
  doi          = {{10.1021/la049783i}},
  volume       = {{20}},
  year         = {{2004}},
}