Pyrogallol[4]arenes show highly variable amphiphilic behavior at the air-water interface dependent upon side chain length and branching.

The behavior of pyrogallol[4]arenes (Pgs) substituted with normal and branched alkyl side chains at the air-water interface was examined on a Langmuir trough. The amphiphilic systems studied form stable monolayers when the straight chains are as short as n-propyl. Remarkably, n-propylpyrogallol[4]arene shows a behavior at the air-water interface that is indistinguishable from that of pyrogallolarenes bearing n-hexyl, n-nonyl, and n-dodecyl side chains. There is no report of amphiphilic side-chain-length dependence or Langmuir trough behavior for families of branched alkyl chain calixarenes or resorcinarenes. In the Pg family reported here, Pgs with straight chains (except for methyl and ethyl) behave very similarly to each other and very differently from symmetrical branched chain analogues having the same total number of carbon atoms. For example, the shortest possible branched side chain of a Pg, isopropyl-Pg, forms stable monolayers by a unique molecular subduction mechanism. Isopropyl-Pg (dimethylmethyl side chain, iPrPg) and 3-pentyl-Pg (diethylmethyl side chain, 3-pentylPg) both show high levels of organization, albeit by quite different mechanisms, at the air-water interface. Both iPrPg and 3-pentylPg differ in behavior from 4-heptylPg. Brewster angle microscopy revealed differences in organization of the Pgs that supports the mechanistic suggestions offered herein.