Dissertation Information for Bessie Nneka Arufolonye MbadughaNAME:
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SCHOOL: ADVISORS: COMMITTEE MEMBERS: MPACT Status: Fully Complete Title: I. Gemini surfactants with a disaccharide spacer. II. Synthesis and bilayer interactions of neosaponins Abstract: Part I . Two related families of gemini surfactants have been synthesized, both with trehalose, a disaccharide, as a polar spacer. One family, Series A , is non-ionic and has amide groups separating the long chains from the trehalose spacer. The other family, Series B , has quaternary ammonium ions connecting the long chains to the trehalose spacer. It was found that Series A geminis are water-insoluble despite the two amides and multiple hydroxyls. When hydrated or extruded, these geminis form bilayer vesicles above their transition temperatures, which were determined calorimetrically, Insoluble monomolecular films, constructed from these geminis, have interfacial areas that are dominated by the sugar spacer although intermolecular chain/chain interactions seem to stabilize the films. Thus the behavior of Series A geminis in many ways parallels that of phospholipids and simple double-chain surfactants. In contrast, cationic Series B geminis are water soluble and form micelles with critical micelle concentrations an order of magnitude lower than that of corresponding conventional surfactants. Molecular modeling using the Amber* force field explains the difference in properties between the two families of geminis. Series A are tubular in shape and thus prefer bilayer packing as do other amphiphiles in which the headgroups are similar in width to the sum of the tail diameters. Series B geminis are conical shaped and pack more readily into spherical micelles. This work entails synthesis, tensiometry, conductance, microscopy, surface balance studies, calorimetry, light scattering, and molecular modeling. In colloid chemistry, a balanced perspective cannot be achieved by one methodology alone but only through the pursuit of consilience among multiple approaches. |
MPACT Scores for Bessie Nneka Arufolonye MbadughaA = 0 Advisors and Advisees Graph |