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In this work, molecular dynamics simulations were performed to study the pH-induced structural transitions for a CTAB/p-toluic acid solution. Spherical and cylindrical micelles were obtained for aqueous surfactants at pH 2 and 7, respectively, which agrees well with the experimental observations. The structural properties of two different micelles were analyzed through the density distributions of components and the molecular orientations of CTA+ and toluic acid inside the micelles. It was found that the bonding interactions between CTA+ and toluic in spherical and cylindrical micelles are very different. Almost all the ionized toluic acid (PTA−) in the solution at pH 7 was solubilized into the micelles, and it was located in the CTA+ headgroups region. Additionally, the bonding between surfactant CTA+ and PTA− was very tight due to the electrostatic interactions. The PTA− that penetrated into the micelles effectively screened the electrostatic repulsion among the cationic headgroups, which is considered to be crucial for maintaining the cylindrical micellar shape. As the pH decreased, the carboxyl groups were protonated. The hydration ability of neutral carboxyl groups weakened, resulting in deeper penetration into the micelles. Meanwhile, their bonding interactions with surfactant headgroups also weakened. Accompanied by the strengthen of electrostatic repulsion among the positive headgroups, the cylindrical micelle was broken into spherical micelles. Our work provided an atomic-level insights into the mechanism of pH-induced structural transitions of a CTAB/p-toluic solution, which is expected to be useful for further understanding the aggregate behavior of mixed cationic surfactants and aromatic acids.

[Display omitted] • Synergistic interaction between Photo-responsive organic Acids and conventional surfactant. • Micelles of CTAB are converted to wormlike micelles and resulted in hydrogel. • The hydrogel when irradiated through UV light, gel to sol conversion occurs. • Hydrogel show change in internal morphology by light irradiation. • Mechanical and thermo-responsive properties of hydrogel were measured. Designing smart materials with fine-tunable structures and stimuli-tunable characteristics within a single molecule is a challenging task for the scientific community. This kind of materials circumvent limitations of conventional materials and are applicable in the formation of soft robotics, actuators, tissue engineering, optical devices, molecular switches and biosensors. In our efforts to design photo-responsive materials, herein we have designed photo-responsive wormlike micelle mediated viscoelastic materials (WMMVMs) through the synergistic interactions between the cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) with photo-responsive organic acids (P-OA), i.e., trans -cinnamic acid (t-CA) and p-coumaric acid (p-CA). Upon exposing the WMMVMs to UV light of 270 nm, drastic drop in viscoelasticity was observed because of the conversation of wormlike micelles in to rodlike micelles as the P-OAs are transformed from its trans form to cis form, confirmed through rheology and SANS. Further, the morphology of the system before and after UV irradiation was confirmed through SEM and TEM images. The irreversible photo-responsive character of the P-OA contributed to the irreversible photo-responsive behavior of the investigated systems. These systems bear good rheological behavior; specifically, Maxwell behavior. Additionally, these viscoelastic materials are also having excellent stretchability (20 times than its original length), self-healing (2 min) ability and higher thermal stability (>262 0C). WMMVMs also exhibited pH (below pK a) and temperature induced (CTAB/t-CA and CTAB/p-CA at 42 °C and 40 °C, respectively) reversible change in viscoelastic properties. We believe that the studied WMMVMs can serve as a useful model in understanding the process of photo-responsiveness and in various applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, molecular dynamics simulations were performed to study the pH-induced structural transitions for a CTAB/p-toluic acid solution. Spherical and cylindrical micelles were obtained for aqueous surfactants at pH 2 and 7, respectively, which agrees well with the experimental observations. The structural properties of two different micelles were analyzed through the density distributions of components and the molecular orientations of CTA+ and toluic acid inside the micelles. It was found that the bonding interactions between CTA+ and toluic in spherical and cylindrical micelles are very different. Almost all the ionized toluic acid (PTA−) in the solution at pH 7 was solubilized into the micelles, and it was located in the CTA+ headgroups region. Additionally, the bonding between surfactant CTA+ and PTA− was very tight due to the electrostatic interactions. The PTA− that penetrated into the micelles effectively screened the electrostatic repulsion among the cationic headgroups, which is considered to be crucial for maintaining the cylindrical micellar shape. As the pH decreased, the carboxyl groups were protonated. The hydration ability of neutral carboxyl groups weakened, resulting in deeper penetration into the micelles. Meanwhile, their bonding interactions with surfactant headgroups also weakened. Accompanied by the strengthen of electrostatic repulsion among the positive headgroups, the cylindrical micelle was broken into spherical micelles. Our work provided an atomic-level insights into the mechanism of pH-induced structural transitions of a CTAB/p-toluic solution, which is expected to be useful for further understanding the aggregate behavior of mixed cationic surfactants and aromatic acids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Static light scattering has been measured on aqueous NaI solutions of dodecylpyridinium iodide (DPI) over NaI concentrations from 0 to 0.05 M. Reduced intensity of scattered light increases with increasing DPI concentration above the critical micelle concentration. The Debye plot is generally a curve with an initially positive slope and with a weakly convex, upward curvature, when the NaI concentration ranges from 0 to 0.005 M. The molecular weight of the spherical micelle of DPI is 28400 in water, and it increases slightly with increasing NaI concentration. The initial slope decreases with increasing NaI concentration and changes from positive to negative across 0.007 M NaI, which is the threshold for the sphere-rod transition and where the micelle has a molecular weight of 34400. At NaI concentrations from 0.01 to 0.05 M, the Debye plot is a curve with an initially negative slope and with a convex, downward curvature. The magnitudes of slope and curvature are larger, and the rodlike micelles of DPI have larger molecular weight and stronger mutual interaction, as the NaI concentration increases. The linear double logarithmic relationship between molecular weight and ionic strength holds for spherical and rodlike micelles, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The viscoelasticity has been measured for aqueous solutions of tetradecyl-and hexadecyltrimethylammonium salicylates (CTASal, CTASal). The aqueous solutions of CTASal without salt displayed the gel-like behavior at 10.0×10 g cm, but those more dilute than 3.2×10 g cm presented the viscoelasticity similar to that of a Maxwell liquid. The Maxwell-like behavior was converted to the polymer-like one on the addition of (0.1-0.2) M NaBr or (0.02-0.2) M NaSal. The gel-like viscoelasticity can be connected with the spinnability of 'cohesive fracture failure', and the Maxwell-like and polymer-like viscoelasticities are concerned with the spinnability of 'ductile failure'. The gel-like and Maxwell-like viscoelasticities originate in the pseudo-network formed by the pseudo-linkages between rodlike micelles, while the polymer-like viscoelasticity is caused by the entanglement of long rodlike micelles in semidilute and concentrated solutions. The aqueous solutions of CTASal behaved very similar to those of CTASal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spinnability was measured for aqueous viscoelastic solutions of tetradecyl- and hexadecyltrimethylammonium salicylates (CTASal, CTASal) in the absence and presence of sodium salicylate (NaSal) and sodium bromide (NaBr). The spinnability is classified into two types, D and C. While the intrinsic drawing length in type D is proportional to the drawing velocity, the drawing intrinsic length in type C decreases with the drawing velocity or is independent of it. The spinnability changes from type D to C, as the drawing velocity and the surfactant concentration increase, and the temperature lowers. The effect of salt is different between NaSal and NaBr. It can be assumed that a pseudo-network structure composed of rod-like micelles is formed in viscoelastic and spinnable surfactant solutions. Then, the spinnability depends on the balance between the elasticity and the viscosity in which the structure results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The solubility of a water-insoluble dye, Sudan Red B, in aqueous sodium halide solutions of tetradecyl-, cetyl-, and stearyltrimethylammonium halides has been measured at different surfactant and salt concentrations, and the dependence of solubilization properties on alkyl chain length has been discussed with reference to the micelle size and shape. At low ionic strengths where only spherical micelles exist, the solubilization power of micellar surfactant slightly increases with increasing the ionic strength, but it sharply increases at high ionic strengths above the threshold value of sphere-rod transition. However, the solubilization power becomes independent of the ionic strength, if their rodlike micelles are sufficiently long. The solubilization capacity increases linearly with increasing the molecular weight, almost independent of counterion species, but the rod-like micelle has a higher solubilization capacity than the spherical micelle. The solubilization capacity is larger for a surfactant with longer alkyl chain, indicating that the dye is solubilized more readily in a larger hydrophobic core. The solubilized dye is situated in a rodlike micelle of alkyltrimethylammonium halides, on average, 4.5-7.5 nm apart from each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Angular dependence of light scattering has been measured for aqueous solutions of dimethyloleylamine oxide in the presence of HCl and NaCl. In micellar solutions more concentrated than 0.1×10 g cm, rodlike micelles are dominantly formed, and their properties are strongly reflected in the characteristics of the solutions. The aggregation number, radius of gyration and even flexibility of the rodlike micelles increase with the addition of HCl as well as NaCl. The increase of HCl concentration up to 10 N makes the aggregation number of rodlike micelles as large as 58,000, when 0.01 M NaCl is present. The large micelle size would be stabilized by the dehydration of the amine oxide group and the hydrogen bonding between nonprotonated and protonated molecules in a micelle. In aqueous solutions without HCl and NaCl or in their presence at very low concentrations, the light scattering is subject to the effects of both external and internal interferences. The effect of external interference can be separated from the effect of internal interference by applying the Zernike-Prins equation to the observed angular dependence of light scattering. Then the second virial coefficient and the pair interaction potential of rodlike micelles can be derived by means of certain approximate methods. The addition of HCl to 10 N makes both repulsive and attractive forces stronger and the resulting potential well deeper, but the addition of NaCl depresses such an effect of HCl considerably. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Micelle size and shape of dodecyldimethylammonium bromide have been determined by measurement of light scattering from its aqueous NaBr solutions. In water and in the presence of NaBr up to 0.07 M, the Debye plots give straight lines with positive slopes, and spherical micelles having molecular weight less than 30 000 are formed. At higher NaBr concentrations, the Debye plots decrease with increasing micelle concentration, indicating the aggregation of the primary spherical micelles into larger secondary micelles. The molecular weight and the radius of gyration of the secondary micelles increase with increasing NaBr concentration, and the relation between molecular weight and radius of gyration suggests that they are rodlike and flexible. Linear logarithmic relations between micelle molecular weight and ionic strength hold for spherical and rodlike micelles, respectively, and the threshold concentration of NaBr for the sphere-rod transition is located at 0.07 M. The spherical micelle of dodecyldimethylammonium ions has a size more than 20 surfactant ions larger in NaBr solutions than in NaCl solutions, and their rodlike micelle has a shorter length in NaBr solutions than in NaCl solutions, when compared at an identical aggregation number, indicating 2 more surfactant ions in its cross-section. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]