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Classical Amphiphilic Behavior of Nonclassical Amphiphiles: A Comparison of Metallacarborane Self‐Assembly with SDS Micellization
Author(s) -
Uchman Mariusz,
Ďorďovič Vladimír,
Tošner Zdeněk,
Matějíček Pavel
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.201506545
Subject(s) - amphiphile , amphiphilic molecule , self assembly , chemistry , chemical engineering , micelle , polymer chemistry , materials science , organic chemistry , copolymer , polymer , aqueous solution , engineering
The self‐assembly of metallacarboranes, a peculiar family of compounds exhibiting surface activity and resembling molecular‐scale Pickering stabilizers, has been investigated by comparison to the micellization of sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS). These studies have shown that molecules without classical amphiphilic topology but with an inherent amphiphilic nature can behave similarly to classical surfactants. As shown by NMR techniques, the self‐assembly of both metallacarboranes and SDS obey a closed association model. However, the aggregation of metallacarboranes is found to be enthalpy‐driven, which is very unusual for classical surfactants. Possible explanations of this fact are outlined.