Research Initiation Award: Active Control of Amphiphilicity: In Situ Control of the Assembly of Redox-active Surfactants in Bulk Solution and at Interfaces

摘要CTS-9410147 Nicholas Abbott/U。卡尔@戴维斯 水溶性表面活性剂分子的研究，在过去，主要集中在系统中，每个表面活性剂的两亲性是固定的，在其合成的时间;在固定的温度，压力和组成，系统的性能包含这些表面活性剂是不变的。 这里提出的研究移动到两亲性的主动控制，并旨在探索分子水平的原则，原位和可逆地改变分子的两亲性，从而控制溶液和界面的基于表面活性剂的性质。 设计并合成了具有氧化还原活性基团的两亲分子，使其亲水性随氧化态的变化而变化。 电化学和光化学技术将被用来控制，在原位，氧化还原润湿性，胶束化，宏观相行为的解决方案的氧化态。 拟议的研究旨在开发在秒的时间尺度上循环表面活性剂水溶液的性质的能力，并将两亲性的变化引导到溶液或界面的特定区域，从而在其基于表面活性剂的性质中产生空间梯度。 表面活性剂的分子结构和它们的集体性质之间的基本关系将被研究。

ABSTRACT CTS-9410147 Nicholas Abbott/U. Cal @ Davis Studies of water-soluble surfactant molecules have, in the past, largely concentrated on systems in which the amphiphilicity of each surfactant was fixed at the time of its synthesis; at fixed temperature, pressure and composition, the properties of systems containing these surfactants are invariant. The research proposed here moves to active control of amphiphilicity, and aims to explore molecular-level principles to change, in situ and reversibly, the amphiphilicity of molecules and thereby control the surfactant-based properties of solutions and interfaces. Amphiphiles with redox-active groups that change hydrophilicity with oxidation state will designed and synthesized. Electrochemical and photochemical techniques will be used to control, in situ, the oxidation states of redox-wettability, micellization, and macroscopic phase-behavior of their solutions. The proposed research aims to develop the capability to cycle, on time-scale of seconds, properties of aqueous surfactant solutions and to direct changes in amphiphilicity to specific regions of a solution or interface thereby creating spatial gradients in their surfactant-based properties. The fundamental relationships between the molecular structures of surfactants and their collective properties will be investigated.