Jiang Haihui Joy, FitzGerald Paul A, Dolan Andrew, Atkin Rob, Warr Gregory G
School of Chemistry, The University of Sydney , Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
J Phys Chem B. 2014 Aug 21;118(33):9983-90. doi: 10.1021/jp504998t. Epub 2014 Aug 7.
Strong cohesive forces in protic ionic liquids (PILs) can induce a liquid nanostructure consisting of segregated polar and apolar domains. Small-angle X-ray scattering has shown that these forces can also induce medium chain length n-alkanols to self-assemble into micelle- and microemulsion-like structures in ethylammonium (EA(+)) and propylammonium (PA(+)) PILs, in contrast to their immiscibility with both water and ethanolammonium (EtA(+)) PILs. These binary mixtures are structured on two distinct length scales: one associated with the self-assembled n-alkanol aggregates and the other with the underlying liquid nanostructure. This suggests that EA(+) and PA(+) enable n-alkanol aggregation by acting as cosurfactants, which EtA(+) cannot do because its terminating hydroxyl renders the cation nonamphiphilic. The primary determining factor for miscibility and self-assembly is the ratio of alkyl chain lengths of the alkanol and PIL cation, modulated by the anion type. These results show how ILs can support the self-assembly of nontraditional amphiphiles and enable the creation of new forms of soft matter.
质子离子液体(PILs)中强大的内聚能诱导形成由分离的极性和非极性域组成的液体纳米结构。小角X射线散射表明,与它们在水和乙醇铵(EtA(+))离子液体中互不相溶的情况不同,这些作用力还能诱导中链长度的正构烷醇在乙铵(EA(+))和丙铵(PA(+))离子液体中自组装成类似胶束和微乳液的结构。这些二元混合物在两个不同的长度尺度上形成结构:一个与自组装的正构烷醇聚集体相关,另一个与潜在的液体纳米结构相关。这表明EA(+)和PA(+)通过充当助表面活性剂来促使正构烷醇聚集,而EtA(+)则无法做到这一点,因为其末端羟基使阳离子成为非两亲性的。互溶性和自组装的主要决定因素是烷醇和离子液体阳离子的烷基链长度之比,该比例受阴离子类型的调节。这些结果展示了离子液体如何支持非传统两亲物的自组装,并实现新型软物质的创造。