Understanding the Nature of Aggregation in a New Group of Surfactants (Aduxols) by Neutron Scattering

Aduxols are quaternary amine surfactants where two ethoxylate chains and a single EO replace the three methyl groups that normally quaternize the ammonium. This is a new configuration for EO containing ionic surfactants. The unusual position of the charge is already known to screen out most of the effect of added electrolyte and should also lead to interesting new mixing charctacteristics with other surfactants, especially ones of opposite charge. We propose to start by determining the main charcteristics of the micellar structure with and without electrolyte and using deuterium labelling to distinguish EO and alkyl groups.