Mixed aggregate formation in gemini surfactant/1,2-dialkyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine systems

Abstract

An evaluation of the physical interactions between gemini surfactants, DNA, and 1,2-dialkyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine helper lipid is presented in this work. Complexation between gemini surfactants and DNA was first investigated using surface tensiometry where the surface tension profiles obtained were found to be consistent with those typically observed for mixed surfactant–polymer systems; that is, there is a synergistic lowering of the surface tension, followed by a first (CAC) and second (CMC) break point in the plot. The surfactant alkyl tail length was observed to exhibit a significant effect on the CAC, thus demonstrating the importance of hydrophobic interactions during complexation between gemini surfactants and DNA. The second study presented is an investigation of the mixing interactions between gemini surfactants and DOPE using Clint’s, Rubingh’s, and Motomura’s theories for mixed micellar formation. The mixing interactions between the 16–3–16/16–7–16/16–12–16/16–7NH–16 gemini surfactants and DOPE were observed to be antagonistic, where the strength of antagonism was found to be dependent upon the gemini surfactant spacer group and the solution composition.