2016 Volume 16 Issue 7 Pages 327-330
In this short review, α-gels formed by ternary mixtures of amino acid-based gemini surfactant (12-GsG-12, s is the spacer chain length, 2, 5, and 8), long-chain alcohol (1-hexadecanol, C16OH), and water have been discussed in terms of their structures and physicochemical properties. When compared with the α-gels formed with a single-chain surfactant (12-Glu), characteristic features of the “gemini-based α-gels” are summarized as follows; (i) lesser amount of C16OH requiring the formation of “saturated” α-gel, under the normalization by the number of alkyl chains of the surfactants, (ii) lower melting point, (iii) larger d-spacing suggesting the greater amount of water incorporated between lamellar sheets, and (iv) lower viscosity at a given water concentration. Future directions regarding this research topic are also addressed.
