title: Classical Amphiphilic Behavior of Nonclassical Amphiphiles: A Comparison of Metallacarborane Self-Assembly with SDS Micellization.
abstract: The self-assembly of metallacarboranes, a peculiar family of compounds exhibiting surface activity and resembling molecular-scale Pickering stabilizers, has been investigated by comparison to the micellization of sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS). These studies have shown that molecules without classical amphiphilic topology but with an inherent amphiphilic nature can behave similarly to classical surfactants. As shown by NMR techniques, the self-assembly of both metallacarboranes and SDS obey a closed association model. However, the aggregation of metallacarboranes is found to be enthalpy-driven, which is very unusual for classical surfactants. Possible explanations of this fact are outlined.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical and Macromolecular Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Hlavova 2030, 128 43 Prague 2 (Czech Republic).
authors.forename: Mariusz
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Uchman
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical and Macromolecular Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Hlavova 2030, 128 43 Prague 2 (Czech Republic).
authors.forename: Vladimír
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ďorďovič
authors.affiliation: NMR laboratory, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Hlavova 2030, 128 43 Prague 2 (Czech Republic).
authors.forename: Zdeněk
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Tošner
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical and Macromolecular Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Hlavova 2030, 128 43 Prague 2 (Czech Republic). pavel.matejicek@natur.cuni.cz.
authors.forename: Pavel
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Matějíček
keywords: NMR spectroscopy; cluster compounds; micelles; surfactants; thermodynamics