Light-responsiveness of C12E6/polymer complexes swollen with dodecane.

The association behavior of light-responsive azobenzene modified poly(sodium acrylate)s (AMPs) with C(12)E(6) (hexa-oxyethyleneglycol n-dodecyl ether) surfactant micelles swollen with dodecane was investigated using dynamic light scattering, UV spectrophotometry, and capillary electrophoresis techniques. AMPs complexes with oligoethyleneglycol n-alkyl ether show promising properties as emulsifiers for the light-triggered control of inversion of emulsions and the present work aims at giving new insights with respect to the nature of their photoresponse. Depending on the dodecane amount, the size of the spherical surfactant micelles was varied with radii ranging from 4 to 8 nm.