| Abstract
| - A matrix of anomerically pure glucose-based surfactants have been synthesized and their thermotropicand lyotropic liquid crystalline phase behavior, and air-aqueous solution interfacial adsorption wereinvestigated. The surfactants, which represent the major components of the Fischer synthesis products,were the n-octyl, n-decyl and n-dodecyl homologues of alkyl α-d- and β-d-glucoside and alkyl β-d-maltoside.The matrix allowed the investigation of the effects of alkyl chain length, headgroup polymerization, andanomeric configuration on the surfactants' physicochemical properties. Increasing the alkyl chain lengthincreases the hydrophobicity and the dispersion interaction between surfactant molecules, as one wouldexpect, resulting in greater thermal stability of thermotropic and lyotropic phases. Phase transitiontemperatures are influenced significantly by the anomeric configuration in the shorter octyl derivatives,but to a lesser extent in the longer alkyl chain derivatives. The effect of increasing the degree of headgrouppolymerization from one to two glucose units is to greatly increase the solubility of the surfactant in waterand to increase the stability of the thermotropic liquid crystalline state. Changes in the headgrouppolymerization and anomeric configuration have very little influence on the air−solution interfacialadsorption of these surfactants, while the effect of alkyl chain length variations was consistent with thatexpected from a thermodynamic consideration of surfactant self-assembly.
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