Surfactant Self-Assembly in Aqueous Solutions: Modulation By Polysaccharides and Oligosaccharides

Surfactants are well-known to self-assemble in aqueous solution and on surfaces to form a variety of nanostructures with varying and tunable shape, dimensions, mobility, local polarity, local concentration, and reactivity.  The surfactant self-assembly in water can be modulated by added solvents and/or solutes, depending on the concentration and type of the additives and their corresponding interactions with the surfactant.  In addition to fundamental considerations regarding such intermolecular and inter-assembly interactions, our research in surfactant-self-assembly modulation by additives is motivated also by practical applications where surfactants are typically one of several components in a formulation.  In this presentation we review recently-published results from our research group on micelle structure and interactions in aqueous solutions of the common surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate as affected by polar organic solvents, polymers (poly(ethylene oxide), cellulose ethers), or solutes (cyclodextrins).  Quantitative information, obtained from analysis of small-angle neutron scattering data, on the location of the additives in the surfactant assembly reveals the interactions acting in such systems.  Fundamental information on such interactions informs the formulation of multicomponent surfactant mixtures for a variety of practical applications.