Gemini surfactants: a new class of self-assembling molecules

«Gemini surfactant» is a name assigned to a family of synthetic amphiphiles possessing, in sequence, a long hydrocarbon chain, an ionic group, a spacer, a second ionic group, and another hydrocarbon tail. Intramolocular chain/chain association was inhibited through the use of rigid spacers, thereby averting self-assembly into conventional micellar structures. Aggregation of the geminis was investigated by (a) surface tension, (b) film-balance methods, (c) dynamic light scattering, (d) 1 H and 23 Na NMR, and (e) spectral changes in an adsorbed dye