Mineev KS, Volynsky PE, Galimzyanov TR, Tretiakova DS, Bobrov MY, Alekseeva AS, Boldyrev IA. Archaeal cyclopentane fragment in a surfactant's hydrophobic tail decreases the Krafft point.
SOFT MATTER 2020;
16:1333-1341. [PMID:
31934706 DOI:
10.1039/c9sm02000d]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Archaea are prokaryotic microorganisms famous for their ability to adapt to extreme environments, including low and high temperatures. Archaeal lipids often are macrocycles with two polar heads and a hydrophobic core that contains methyl groups and in-line cycles. Here we present the design of novel general-purpose surfactants that have inherited features of archaeal lipids. These are C12 and C14 carboxylic acids containing in-line cyclopentanes. The cyclopentanes disturb the chain packing, which results in remarkable expansion of the operational range of the surfactant into the low-temperature region. We report synthesis and properties of these novel archaea-like surfactants and details of their chain packing derived from thermodynamics model predictions, molecular dynamics simulations, and experimental data on CMC and Krafft points.
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