Solution pH and oligoamine molecular weight dependence of the transition from monolayer to multilayer adsorption at the air-water interface from sodium dodecyl sulfate/oligoamine mixtures.

Neutron reflectivity and surface tension have been used to investigate the solution pH and oligoamine molecular weight dependence of the adsorption of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)/oligoamine mixtures at the air-water interface. For diethylenetriamine, triamine, or triethylenetetramine, tetramine mixed with SDS, there is monolayer adsorption at pH 7 and 10, and multilayer adsorption at pH 3. For the slightly higher molecular weight tetraethylenepentamine, pentamine, and pentaethylenehexamine, hexamine, the adsorption is in the form of a monolayer at pH 3 and multilayers at pH 7 and 10. Hence, there is a pH driven transition from monolayer to multilayer adsorption, which shifts from low pH to higher pH as the oligoamine molecular weight increases from tetramine to pentamine. This results from the relative balance between the electrostatic attraction between the SDS and amine nitrogen group which decreases as the charge density decreases with increasing pH, the ion-dipole interaction between the amine nitrogen and SDS sulfate group which is dominant at higher pH, and the hydrophobic interalkyl chain interaction between bound SDS molecules which changes with oligoamine molecular weight.