Characterization of photoswitchable amphiphiles by NMR spectroscopy

M. A SEQUEIRA; Z. B. QUIROLO; J. C. MARTINS; V. I. DODERO

Blakenberge

Congreso; 9th YBMRS Symposium. Young Belgian Magnetic Resonance Scientist Symposium; 2011

Universidad de Bruselas

Chemistry has created a wide range of ever more sophisticated molecules and materials. Beyond the molecule, supramolecular chemistry1 offers unique opportunities directed towards the fabrication of new supramolecular structures and materials. These have dynamic characteristics mainly because their constituents are bonded by reversible interactions which are, in some cases, possible to manipulate in an external manner. Previously ionic azobencenes amphiphiles have been reported in order to investigate the physicochemical properties of biomimetic membranes. The charged headgroup on these surfactants have such large effective cross-sectional areas that the conformation change taken by the tails as a result of the illumination has little effect on the packing of the amphilphile in the absorbed interfacial layer 2. In order to obtain systems with potential application as membrane modulators3, the synthesis and characterization of new artificial non-ionic amphiphiles was performed. Structural characterization has been investigated by NMR and Mass spectroscopy. Its aggregation behavior has been evaluated by UV-Vis spectroscopy and Optical Microscopy.  Currently, NMR experiments are performed in order to elucidate the structure of the formed aggregates. 1.         Lehn, J-M. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2002, 99, 4763-4768. 2.         Zhu, D. M.; Wu, X.; Schelly, Z. A. J. Phys. Chem. 1992, 96, 8121-8128. 3.         Shang, T.; Smith, K. A.; Hatton, A. Langmuir 2003, 19, 10764-10773.