Lauryldimethylamine oxide (LDAO), also known as dodecyldimethylamine oxide (DDAO), is an

amine oxide In chemistry, an amine oxide, also known as an amine ''N''-oxide or simply ''N''-oxide, is a chemical compound that contains the functional group , a nitrogen-oxygen coordinate covalent bond with three additional hydrogen and/or substituent-grou ...

based zwitterionic surfactant, with a C₁₂ (dodecyl) alkyl tail. It is one of the most frequently-used surfactants of this type. Like other amine oxide based surfactants it is

antimicrobial An antimicrobial is an agent that kills microorganisms or stops their growth. Antimicrobial medicines can be grouped according to the microorganisms they act primarily against. For example, antibiotics are used against bacteria, and antifungals ar ...

, being effective against common bacteria such as '' S. aureus'' and '' E. coli'', however it is also non-denaturing and may be used to solubilize proteins. At high concentrations, LDAO forms liquid crystalline phases. Despite having only one polar atom that is able to interact with water – the oxygen atom (the quaternary nitrogen atom is hidden from intermolecular interactions), DDAO is a strongly amphiphilic surfactant: it forms normal

micelle A micelle () or micella () (plural micelles or micellae, respectively) is an aggregate (or supramolecular assembly) of surfactant amphipathic lipid molecules dispersed in a liquid, forming a colloidal suspension (also known as associated coll ...

s and normal liquid crystalline phases. High amphiphilicity of this surfactant can be explained by the fact that it forms not only very strong hydrogen bonds with water: the energy of DDAO – water hydrogen bond is about 50 kJ/mol, but it also has high experimental partition coefficient in non-polar medium, as characterized by experimental logP 5.284

References

{{reflist Amine oxides Surfactants

See also

References