Surface phase behavior of di- n-tetradecyl hydrogen phosphate in Langmuir monolayers at the air–water interface

Abstract

Surface phase behavior of di- n-tetradecyl hydrogen phosphate, DTP, has been studied by measuring π – A isotherms with a film balance and observing monolayer morphology with a Brewster angle microscopy (BAM) at different temperatures. A generalized phase diagram, which shows a triple point for gas (G), liquid-expanded (LE) and liquid-condensed (LC) phases at about 32 °C, is constructed for the amphiphile. Below the triple point, a first-order G–LC phase transition has been shown to occur, whereas a first-order G–LE phase transition followed by another first-order LE–LC transition has been found to take place at a temperature above the triple point. The amphiphile shows the fingering LC domains with uniform brightness indicating the presence of untilted molecules. The domain shapes are independent of the change in temperature and compression rate. The existence of similar fingering domains over a wide range of temperature is rather uncommon in the monolayer systems and is considered to be due to the restricted movement of the molecules incorporating into the LC phase. Because the two-alkyl chains are directly attached to two covalent bonds of the phosphate head group, the rearrangement of the molecules, which is an essential condition for the circular domain formation, needs the movement of the whole molecules including the hydration sphere. The difficulty related to such a movement of the molecules causes fingering domains, which are independent of external variables.