Dimethyldioctadecylammonium bromide (also dioctadecyldimethylammonium bromide or DODAB) is a double-chained quaternary ammonium

surfactant Surfactants are chemical compounds that decrease the surface tension between two liquids, between a gas and a liquid, or interfacial tension between a liquid and a solid. Surfactants may act as detergents, wetting agents, emulsion#Emulsifiers , ...

that forms unilamellar

vesicles Vesicle may refer to: ; In cellular biology or chemistry * Vesicle (biology and chemistry), a supramolecular assembly of lipid molecules, like a cell membrane * Synaptic vesicle ; In human embryology * Vesicle (embryology), bulge-like features o ...

(ULVs) in water. Among various preparation methods, the ‘‘hot-water” method offers a simple procedure to prepare DODAB

cationic An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by convent ...

vesicles by simply dissolving the DODAB in hot water above 50 °C, i.e., chain melting (main) transition, Tm. In general, the DSC thermograms of the unsonicated DODAB dispersions are dominated by two endotherms; the pre- (35–36 °C) and main transition (42.7–45 °C) peaks. Moreover, in literature reported the presence of a third endotherm (post transition) at 52.2 °C. The main transition (Tm) is ascribed to

gel A gel is a semi-solid that can have properties ranging from soft and weak to hard and tough. Gels are defined as a substantially dilute cross-linked system, which exhibits no flow when in the steady-state, although the liquid phase may still di ...

to liquid-crystalline phase transition in which the alkyl chains transform from solidlike to liquid-like state. The 10 mM DODAB is a critical

concentration In chemistry, concentration is the abundance of a constituent divided by the total volume of a mixture. Several types of mathematical description can be distinguished: '' mass concentration'', '' molar concentration'', ''number concentration'', ...

, below which the dispersions consist of large polydispersed unilamellar vesicles (ULVs) that exhibit a local (chain melting) transition at 43 °C, beyond which a structural transition occurs: ULVs --> MLVs (multilamellar vesicles) as indicated by the sudden increase in the dynamic moduli. However, above 10 mM DODAB, the dispersions are mostly formed by ULVs in coexistence with lamellar fragments resulting in a network that shows a rheogram similar to that of hexagonal liquid-crystalline phase.Coppola L. , Youssry M. , Nicotera I. , Gentile L. , " Rheological investigation of thermal transitions in vesicular dispersion". Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 2009, Vol. 338, n. 2, pp. 550–557
Abstract
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References

{{reflist Colloidal chemistry Soft matter Ammonium compounds Bromides Cationic surfactants

See also

References