Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Effect of head-tail ratio and the range of the head-head interaction in amphiphilic self-assembly

  • Regular Article
  • Published:
The European Physical Journal E Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract.

We investigate cluster autocorrelations, critical micelle concentration (CMC), and size distribution for amphiphiles of the type HxTy as a function of the amphiphilic factor α = \( {\frac{{x}}{{y}}}\) for a fixed length l = x + y using a combination of reptation and kink-jump Monte Carlo (MC) moves in a two-dimensional (2D) square lattice. We find that the CMC decreases monotonically as a function of the α-parameter. For a fixed chain length l of the molecule, the symmetric molecules of the type Hl/2Tl/2 with α = 1 tend to form circular micelles with relatively narrow distribution in cluster sizes. As we decrease the α-parameter to introduce head-tail asymmetry, the size distribution becomes polydisperse with occurrences of more elongated micelles. A calculation of the cluster autocorrelation function reveals that for the same chain length, symmetric amphiphiles take significantly less time to equilibrate and therefore simulation of much longer molecules is possible. Next we study the effect of the head-head repulsion term beyond next nearest neighbors. In general, the presence of a longer-range repulsive interaction reduces the average size of the micelles. We also notice that for l = 5, while H2T3 molecules produces spherical micelles, the H1T4 molecules( α = 0.25) often form vesicles. Our systematic studies bring out relevant information for controlling shapes and sizes of micelles to be used as templates in the design of self-assembled nanostructures.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. V. De Giorgio, M. Corti (Editors), Physics of Amphiphiles: Micelles, Vesicles and Microemulsions (North-Holland, 1985).

  2. J.N. Israelachvili, Intermolecular and Surface Forces (Academic, New York, 1985).

  3. S.A. Safran, Statistical Thermodynamics of Surfaces, Interfaces, and Membranes (Addison Wesley, New York, 1994).

  4. R.G. Larson, The Structure and Rheology of Complex Fluids (Oxford University Press, 1999).

  5. D. Blankschtein, G.M. Thurston, G.B. Benedek, Phys. Rev. Lett. 54, 955 (1985)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. A. Ben-Shaul, I. Szleifer, W.M. Gelbart, J. Chem. Phys. 83, 3597 (1985)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. C.M. Wijmans, P. Linse, Langmuir 11, 3748 (1995).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. A.D. Mackie, A.Z. Panagiotopoulos, I. Szleifer, Langmuir 13, 5022 (1997).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. R.G. Larson, L.E. Scriven, H.T. Davis, J. Chem. Phys. 83, 2411 (1985)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. C.M. Care, J. Phys. C 20, 689 (1987).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. C.M. Care, J. Chem. Soc. Faraday Trans. 83, 2905 (1987).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. D. Brindle, C.M. Care, J. Chem. Soc. Faraday Trans. 88, 2163 (1994).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. J.-C. Desplat, C.M. Care, Mol. Phys. 87, 441 (1996).

    Google Scholar 

  14. A.T. Bernardes, V.B. Henriques, P.M. Bisch, J. Chem. Phys. 101, 645 (1994).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  15. A.T. Bernardes, J. Phys. II 6, 169 (1996).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. P.H. Nelson, G.C. Rutledge, T.A. Hatton, J. Chem. Phys. 107, 10777 (1997).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. Aniket Bhattacharya, S.D. Mahanti, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 12, 6141 (2000).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  18. Aniket Bhattacharya, S.D. Mahanti, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 13, L861 (2001).

  19. A. Floriano, E. Caponetti, A.Z. Panagiotopoulos, Langmuir 15, 3143 (1999).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. S. Salaniwal, S.K. Kumar, A.Z. Panagiotopoulos, Langmuir 19, 5164 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. C.S. Shida, V.B. Henriques, J. Chem. Phys. 115, 8655 (2001).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  22. A. Milchev, Aniket Bhattacharya, K. Binder, Macromolecule 6, 1881 (2001).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. D. Viduna, A. Milchev, K. Binder, Macromol. Theory Simul. 7, 649 (1998).

    Google Scholar 

  24. L.A. Rodriguez-Guadarrama, S.K. Talsania, K.K. Mohanty, R. Rajagopalan, Langmuir 15, 437 (1999).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. D.R. Rector, F. van Swol, J.R. Henderson, Mol. Phys. 82, 1009 (1994).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. B. Smit, K. Esselink, P.A. Hilbert, N.M. van Os, L.A.M. Rupert, I. Szleifer, Langmuir 9, 9 (1993)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. B. Palmer, J. Liu, Langmuir 12, 746

  28. F.K. von Gottberg, K.A. Smith, T.A. Hatton, J. Chem. Phys. 106, 9850 (1997).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  29. R. Goetz, R. Lipowsky, J. Chem. Phys. 108, 7397 (1998).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  30. A. Bhattacharya, A. Chakrabarti, S.D. Mahanti, J. Chem. Phys. 108, 10281 (1998).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  31. J.-B. Maillet, V. Lachet, P.V. Coveney, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 1, 5277 (1999).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. T. Soddemann, B. Dunweg, K. Kremer, Eur. Phys. J. E 409, 409 (2001).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. S. Bogusz, R.M. Venable, R. Pastor, J. Phys. Chem. 105, 8312 (2001).

    Google Scholar 

  34. P.K. Maiti, Y. Lansac, M.A. Glaser, N.A. Clark, Y. Rouault, Langmuir 18, 1908 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. G. Bourov, Aniket Bhattacharya, J. Chem. Phys. 119, 9219 (2003).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  36. V. Kapila, J.M. Harris, P.A. Deymer, S. Raghavan, Langmuir 18, 3728 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. B. Owenson, L.R. Pratt, J. Phys. Chem. 88, 2905 (1984).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Z. Zhang, M.A. Horsch, M. Lamm, S.C. Glotzer, Nano Lett. 3, 1341 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. C.T. Kresge, M.E. Leonowicz, W.J. Roth, J.C. Vertuli, J.S. Beck, Nature 359, 710 (1992)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  40. H. Matsui, J. Phys. Chem. B 104, 3383 (2000).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. B. Vigolo, A. Penicaud, C. Coulon, C. Sauder, R. Pailler, C. Journet, P. Bernier, P. Poulin, Science 290, 1331 (2000).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  42. F.S. Bates, G.H. Fredrickson, Phys. Today 52, 32 (1999).

    MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  43. B. Alberts, Molecular Cell Biology, 4th ed. (Garland Science, New York, 2002).

  44. J.J. Kasianowicz, E. Brandin, D. Branton, D. Deamer, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 93, 13770 (1996)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  45. C. Sangregorio, J.K. Wiemann, C.J. O'Connor, Z. Rosenzweig, J. Appl. Phys. 85, 5699 (1999).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  46. W. Wenzel, C. Ebner, C. Jayaprakash, R. Pandit, J. Phys. C 1, 4245 (1989).

    Google Scholar 

  47. E. Ruckenstein, R. Nagarajan, J. Phys. Chem. 79, 2622 (1975)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. A. Ben-Naim, F.H. Stillinger, J. Phys. Chem. 84, 2872 (1980)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. We restrict ourselves to the case where the number of head monomers is less than or equal to the number of tail monomers.

  50. K. Kitanovski, G. Bourov, A. Bhattacharya, unpublished.

  51. T. Haliloglu, W.L. Mattice, Chem. Eng. Sci. 49, 2851 (1993).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  52. Z. Wang, Macromolecules 25, 3702 (1992).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  53. A. Adjari, L. Leibler, Macromolecules 24, 6803 (1991).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  54. O. Glatter, G. Fritz, H. Lindner, J. Brunner-Popela, R. Mittelbach, R. Strey, S.U. Egelhaaf, Langmuir 16, 8692 (2000).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, University of Central Florida, 32816-2385, Orlando, FL, USA

    V. Maycock & A. Bhattacharya

Authors
  1. V. Maycock
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. A. Bhattacharya
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. Bhattacharya.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Maycock, V., Bhattacharya, A. Effect of head-tail ratio and the range of the head-head interaction in amphiphilic self-assembly. Eur. Phys. J. E 20, 201–207 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2005-10126-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2005-10126-3

PACS.

Search

Navigation