Langmuir, Vol.19, No.23, 9625-9629, 2003
Self-organization and microstructures of sodium 11-acrylamidoundecanoate in water
The aggregation behavior of sodium 11-acrylamidoundecanoate in aqueous solution has been investigated. The critical micelle concentration was determined by surface tension measurement. Steady-state fluorescence quenching of pyrene was used to determine micellar aggregation number. The micropolarity of the micellar aggregates was determined from the intensity ratio (1311,) in the fluorescence spectrum of pyrene. The fluorescence probe studies indicated that the microenvironment of the probe molecule was nonpolar in nature. FT-IR spectra were measured to elucidate the role of intermolecular hydrogen bonding between amide groups on the formation of supramolecular self-assemblies. The dynamic light scattering measurements have shown the existence of large cylindrical micellar aggregates in dilute aqueous solutions. The light and transmission electron micrographs were measured to study the microstructures of the supramolecular assemblies in aqueous solutions of the amphiphile. In this work, it has been demonstrated that bilayer structures appearing as vesicles, tubules, and wormlike micelles can be formed spontaneously in dilute aqueous solution even from a simple single-tail surfactant.