Shamrock surfactants with terminal carboxylate headgroups and a central phosphorodithioate or quaternary ammonium headgroup.

Surfactants 3 (tripotassium O,O'-di-[11-(carboxylato)undecyl]phosphorodithioate) and 4 (sodium 12-[dimethyl-(11-carboxylatoundecyl)ammonio]dodecanoate), which are new shamrock surfactants, were prepared and characterized. Shamrock surfactants represent a novel class of surfactants that contain a central headgroup connected to two flanking headgroups by hydrocarbon chains; they do not contain long-chain alkyl groups. Surfactants 3 and 4 were characterized in water by measurement of their Krafft temperatures and critical aggregation concentrations, and their aggregates were studied by 1H and 31P NMR spectroscopy, dynamic laser light scattering, and phase-contrast optical microscopy.

Surfactant quaternary ammonium hydrotris(1-pyrazolyl)borates.

Quaternary ammonium surfactants with the hydrotris(1-pyrazolyl)borate anion as an unusual counterion were prepared and characterized. Dodecyl- (1a), tetradecyl- (1b), and hexadecyltrimethylammonium hydrotris(1-pyrazolyl)borate (1c), as well as didodecyldimethylammonium hydrotris(1-pyrazolyl)borate (2), were prepared by metathesis reactions with the corresponding quaternary ammonium bromides and potassium hydrotris(1-pyrazolyl)borate (4). Although the surfactants have limited stabilities in water at 23 degrees C, they were characterized by measurement of their Krafft temperatures and critical aggregation concentrations.

Shamrock surfactants: synthesis and characterization.

Two types of a new class of surfactants with three headgroups, which possess the general structure 1, have been prepared. Within structure 1, a central headgroup is connected to two flanking headgroups by hydrocarbon chains. The term "shamrock" is used to describe surfactants of structure 1, denoting their triple-headed character and reflecting the fact that shamrocks have leaflets in groups of three.