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Shape control through molecular segregation in giant surfactant aggregates.

ABSTRACT: Mixtures of cationic and anionic surfactants crystallized at various ratios in the absence of added salt form micrometer-sized colloids. Here, we propose and test a general mechanism explaining how this ratio controls the shape of the resulting colloidal structure, which can vary from nanodiscs to punctured planes; during cocrystallization, excess (nonstoichiometric) surfactant accumulates on edges or pores rather than being incorporated into crystalline bilayers. Molecular segregation then produces a sequence of shapes controlled by the initial mole ratio only. Using freeze-fracture electron microscopy, we identified three of these states and their corresponding coexistence regimes. Fluorescence confocal microscopy directly showed the segregation of anionic and cationic components within the aggregate. The observed shapes are consistently reproduced upon thermal cycling, demonstrating that the icosahedral shape corresponds to the existence of a local minimum of bending energy for facetted icosahedra when the optimal amount of excess segregated material is present.

SUBMITTER: Dubois M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC523443 | biostudies-literature | 2004 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Shape control through molecular segregation in giant surfactant aggregates.

Dubois Monique M Lizunov Vladimir V Meister Annette A Gulik-Krzywicki Thadeus T Verbavatz Jean Marc JM Perez Emile E Zimmerberg Joshua J Zemb Thomas T

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20041012 42

Mixtures of cationic and anionic surfactants crystallized at various ratios in the absence of added salt form micrometer-sized colloids. Here, we propose and test a general mechanism explaining how this ratio controls the shape of the resulting colloidal structure, which can vary from nanodiscs to punctured planes; during cocrystallization, excess (nonstoichiometric) surfactant accumulates on edges or pores rather than being incorporated into crystalline bilayers. Molecular segregation then prod ...[more]

PMID: 15479765

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Project description:We report the synthesis, crystal structures and magnetic properties of the giant heterometallic [Mn36Ni4]2-/0 (compounds 1, 2)/[Mn32Co8] (compound 3) "loops-of-loops-and-supertetrahedra" molecular aggregates and of a [Mn2Ni6]2+ compound (cation of 4) that is structurally related with the cation co-crystallizing with the anion of 1. In particular, after the initial preparation and characterization of compound [Mn2Ni6(μ4-O)2(μ3-OH)3(μ3-Cl)3(O2CCH3)6(py)8]2+[Mn36Ni4(μ4-O)8(μ3-O)4(μ3-Cl)8Cl4(O2CCH3)26(pd)24(py)4]2- (1) we targeted the isolation of (i) both the cationic and the anionic aggregates of 1 in a discrete form and (ii) the Mn/Co analog of [Mn36Ni4]2- aggregate. Our synthetic efforts toward these directions afforded the discrete [Mn36Ni4] "loops-of-loops-and-supertetrahedra" aggregate [Mn36Ni4(μ4-O)8(μ3-O)4(μ3-Cl)8Cl2(O2CCH3)26(pd)24(py)4(H2O)2] (2), the heterometallic Mn/Co analog [Mn32Co8(μ4-O)8(μ3-O)4(μ3-Cl)8Cl2(μ2-OCH2CH3)2(O2CCH3)28(pd)22(py)6] (3) and the discrete [Mn2Ni6]2+ cation [Mn2Ni6(μ4-O)2(μ3-OH)4(μ3-Cl)2(O2CCH3)6(py)8](ClO4)(OH) (4). The structure of 1 consists of a mixed valence [ Mn28III Mn8II Ni4II ]2- molecular aggregate that contains two Mn8III Ni2II loops separated by two Mn6III Mn4II supertetrahedral units and a [ Mn2III Ni6II ]2+ cation based on two [MnIII Ni3II (μ4-O)(μ3-OH)1.5(μ3-Cl)1.5]4+ cubane sub-units connected through both mono- and tri-atomic bridges provided by the μ4-O2- and carboxylate anions. The structures of 2-4 are related to those of the compounds co-crystallized in 1 exhibiting however some differences that shall be discussed in detail in the manuscript. Magnetism studies revealed the presence of dominant ferromagnetic interactions in 1-3 that lead to large ground state spin (ST) values for the "loops-of-loops-and-supertetrahedra" aggregates and antiferromagnetic exchange interactions in 4 that lead to a low (and possibly zero) ST value. In particular, dc and ac magnetic susceptibility studies revealed that the discrete [Mn36Ni4] aggregate exhibits a large ST value ~ 26 but is not a new SMM. The ac magnetic susceptibility studies of the [Mn32Co8] analog revealed an extremely weak beginning of an out-of-phase tail indicating the presence of a very small relaxation barrier assignable to the anisotropic Co2+ions and a resulting out-of-phase ac signal whose peak is at very low T.

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Shape control through molecular segregation in giant surfactant aggregates.

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Shape control through molecular segregation in giant surfactant aggregates.

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