Solvent selective gelation of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide: structure, phase evolution and thermal characteristics.

We report herein the gelation behaviour of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), a cationic surfactant, in a variety of solvent compositions. A turbid gel of CTAB in a binary solvent mixture at a critical composition was observed to be 1 : 3 v/v toluene : water. The molecular structure of the as-formed gel was investigated by X-ray diffraction and microscopic techniques, namely, optical and polarizing microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). The phase evolution has been studied using UV-visible transmittance measurements and the thermal characteristics of the gel by differential scanning calorimetry measurements. SAXS studies, in conjunction with molecular modelling, revealed the gel to assemble as lamellae with high interdigitation of bilayer assembly of CTAB molecules with predominant non-covalent interactions, where the gel lamellae were inferred from the interplanar spacings. Rheological studies revealed the viscoelastic nature of the CTAB gels. The ability to form a gel has been evaluated in several polar solvents, such as methanol and chloroform, and non-polar solvents, such as toluene and carbon tetrachloride.

Nanogold Biosynthesis Mediated by Mixed Flower Pollen Grains.

Physical and chemical methods for nanoparticle synthesis are disadvantageous to less energy demanding and more efficient and environmentally friendly biological approaches. Thus, in this paper, we designed simple, bottom-up, in vitro, static experiment under laboratory conditions using suspension of mixed flower pollen grains for nanoparticle synthesis. Pollen grains provided template substrates for gold nanoparticles synthesis from dissolved Au(III). Transmission and scanning electron microscopy along with ultraviolet-visible spectra confirmed the gold nanoparticles formation. The biosynthesized/phytosynthesized gold nanoparticles had relative narrow size distribution (from 3 to 11 nm) with dominant spherical morphology with no aggregated forms. Thus, the gold nanoparticles in pollen dispersion provides excellent stability and dispersity.

Novel two-component gels of cetylpyridinium chloride and the bola-amphiphile 6-amino caproic acid: phase evolution and mechanism of gel formation.

A two-component gel resulting from the amphiphilic cationic surfactant cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC) in the presence of a structure-forming bola-amphiphilic additive 6-aminocaproic acid (6-ACA) was realized and investigated. At a critical 6 wt % of 1:1 CPC:6-ACA, the yellow colored gel resulted from a 3:1 v/v CHCl(3):H(2)O critical binary solvent composition. The mixed amphiphilic system formed a 1:1 complex with a binding constant ~0.83 × 10(4) M(-1). Phase evolution and mechanism of gelation in the mixed CPC:6-ACA system was unraveled upon investigating the gel microstructure, based on spectroscopic, microscopic, and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) investigations. The gel assembled as a lamellar organization, maintaining a loosely interdigitated bilayer structure of CPC and 6-ACA molecules through predominant charge transfer, H-bonding, and hydrophobic and intercomplex interactions. The SAXS pattern indicated a semicrystalline form to be the stable phase with alternating crystalline and amorphous layers; a novel mode of gelation with a widely disparate semicrystalline form of the lamellar gel was thus indicated, where the lamellar structure was deduced from the interplanar spacings. A transition from low viscosity reverse micellar solution to a yellow rigid gel upon aging was thus comprehended. The mixed amphiphile in varying polarity organic solvents in the presence of water indicated the nonconducive nature of gelation in very highly polar solvents, methanol, and DMF or, in very low polarity solvents, such as, cyclohexane and carbon tetrachloride.

Unilamellar composite vesicles and Y-junctions from pristine fullerene C(60).

We report here the first structurally defined aqueous phase nanovesicles and Y-junctions from a pristine C(60) dispersion at a strictly defined [C(60)]/[TX-100] concentration ratio, bearing a temporal dependence.