A comparison of the self-assembly behaviour of sodium N-lauroyl sarcosinate and sodium N-lauroyl glycinate surfactants in aqueous and aqueo-organic media.

Self-assembly of surfactants is influenced by various intermolecular interactions and molecular structure, which dictate packing of molecules in the aggregate and its microstructure. Hydrogen-bonding between amide groups plays a key role in the self-assembly process of N-acyl amino acid surfactants (NAAS). The self-assembly properties of two NAAS, sodium N-lauroyl sarcosinate (SLS) and sodium N-lauroyl glycinate (SLG) that differ only in the head-group structure were compared in aqueous and aqueo-organic media by using a number of methods, including surface tension fluorescence, dynamic light scattering, calorimetry, and microscopy. It was observed that aggregate formation is more favoured in SLG. Studies revealed that while SLS formed small spherical micelles, SLG produced unilamellar vesicles in pH 7 buffer above critical micelle concentration at 25 °C. The stability of SLG vesicles with respect to pH and temperature was also investigated. Furthermore, both SLG and SLS were found to gelify aquo-organic mixtures of varying composition upon heat-cool treatment. Their gelation behaviour was compared by measuring minimum gelation concentration, molecular packing, and morphology and mechanical stability of the thermoreversible gels. The difference in self-assembly behaviour in water as well as in aqueo-organic mixtures was attributed to the steric repulsion and hydrogen-bonding interaction at the head-group of the molecules.