Monolayer behavior of cyclic and linear forms of surfactins: thermodynamic analysis of Langmuir monolayers and AFM study of Langmuir-Blodgett monolayers.

The molecular interactions of monolayers composed of cyclic and linear forms of surfactins (SFs) were evaluated through atomic force microscopy (AFM) together with a Langmuir monolayer technique. The surface pressure (π)-area per molecule (A) isotherm of a pure cyclic surfactin (CSF) monolayer exhibited a liquid expanded (Le) monolayer, while that of a pure linear surfactin (LSF) monolayer exhibited a liquid condensed (Lc) monolayer, demonstrating that the CSFs are in a rather loose molecular packing state owing to its bulky heptapeptide ring. The plots of the mean area per molecule of the CSF/LSF monolayers were well fitted to the ideal curves, suggesting that ideal mixing occurs, or that the two components are immiscible in a monolayer. The AFM images of the CSF/LSF monolayers transferred at 25 mN/m gave phase-separated microdomain structures, indicating that the CSFs and LSFs are almost immiscible and separated into a CSF-rich and LSF-rich phases, as suggested from the analysis of the mean area per molecule of the monolayers. Our results clearly demonstrated that the cleavage of the cyclic heptapeptide headgroup of CSF drastically changes its molecular packing state in a monolayer and that AFM observation combined with the Langmuir monolayer technique is quite useful to explore the manner of self-assembly of a binary system of microbial products such as CSFs and LSFs.

Interdigitated lamella and bicontinuous cubic phases formation from natural cyclic surfactin and its linear derivative.

The lyotropic phase behavior of the cyclic form surfactin (CS) produced by Bacillus subtilis and its linear derivative in aqueous solution was evaluated for the first time by using polarized light microscopy and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). By polarized light microscopy, the aqueous solutions of CS at the concentrations above 50 wt% were optically anisotropic and gave mosaic textures, suggesting the formation of lamella structures, while those of the linear surfactin (LS) were optically isotropic and no distinctive textures were observed. SAXS diffractograms of the CS solution above 50 wt% clearly gave the three peaks whose spacing ratio of 1: 2: 3, indicating the presence of the lamellar (L(α)) phase, while those of the LS solution gave multiple peaks whose spacing ratios of √2: √3: √4: √6: √8, confirming the bicontinuous cubic (V2) phase of the symmetry Pn3m. It was also found that the lamellar phase with CS was composed of not ordinary bilayer but interdigitated bilayer with the unusual packing of the acyl chain region. These results clearly demonstrated that the cyclic peptide structure plays a key role in regulating their self-assembly, and naturally occurring CS is likely to form lamellar structure by balancing bulky peptide headgroups with interdigitated packing of their acyl chains.

Synthesis and interfacial properties of monoacyl glyceric acids as a new class of green surfactants.

Glyceric acid (GA) is one of the most promising functional hydroxyl acids, and it is abundantly obtained from glycerol by a bioprocess using acetic acid bacteria. In this study, several monoacyl GAs were synthesized by esterification of GA and saturated fatty acyl chlorides (C12, C14, C16, and C18), forming a new class of bio-based surfactants. By the present method, a mixture of two isomers, namely 2-O-acyl and 3-O-acyl GAs, was produced, in which the 2-O-acyl derivatives were obtained as a major product. These isomers were isolated, and their surface-active properties were investigated for the first time. The surface tensions of 2-O-acyl GAs with different chain lengths were determined by the Wilhelmy method. At concentrations below 10(-4) M, the 2-O-acyl GAs exhibited higher surface-active properties compared to commercially available synthetic surfactants. For example, 2-O-lauroyl GA reduced the surface tension of water to around 25 mN/m above the critical micelle concentration (3.0×10(-4) M). In addition, 2-O-acyl derivatives showed higher surface-tension-lowering activity than 3-O-acyl GAs. The monoacyl GAs synthesized herein can potentially be used as "green surfactants."