Perfluorinated Alcohols Induce Complex Coacervation in Mixed Surfactants.

Abstract

Recently, we reported a unique and nearly ubiquitous phenomenon of inducing simple and complex coacervation in solutions of a broad variety of individual and mixed amphiphiles and over a wide range of concentrations and mole fractions. This paper describes a novel type of biphasic separation in aqueous solutions of mixed cationic-anionic (catanionic) surfactants induced by hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP). The test cases included mixtures of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) (surfactants with different carbon chain lengths) as well as dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB) with SDS (surfactants with the same carbon chain lengths). The CTAB-SDS-HFIP coacervate systems can be produced at many different mole ratios of surfactant, but DTAB-SDS-HFIP formed only coacervates at equimolar (1:1) mole ratios of DTAB and SDS. The phase-transition behavior of both systems was studied over a wide range of surfactant and HFIP concentrations at the stoichiometric (1:1) mole ratio of cationic/anionic surfactants. The chemical compositions of each of the two phases (aqueous-rich and coacervate phases) were studied with regard to the concentrations of HFIP, water, and individual surfactants. It is revealed that the surfactant-rich phase (coacervate phase) contains a large percentage of fluoroalcohol relative to the aqueous phase and is enriched in both surfactants but contains a small percentage of water. Surprisingly, the concentration of water in the coacervate phase increases as the total HFIP concentration is increased while the concentration of HFIP in the coacervate phase remains relatively constant, which means a larger amount of water associated with HFIP molecules is extracted into the coacervate phase, which results in the growth of the phase. The volume of the coacervate phase increases with an increase in surfactant concentration and total HFIP %. The coacervate phase is highly enriched in the two amphiphilic ions (DTA(+) and DS(-)) whereas the two counterions (Br(-) and Na(+)) primarily reside in the aqueous-rich phase. The results suggest the formation of a catanionic complex in the coacervate phase through ion pairing with a concomitant release of the surfactant counterions (Na(+) and Br(-)) into the aqueous-rich phase. Finally, the fluorocarbon alcohol systems are contrasted with the effects of aliphatic alcohols in the mixed catanionic surfactant systems. Isopropanol does not have the same interactions as HFIP with respect to solubilization, aggregation, and phase separation of the oppositely charged surfactants.