Tripod facial surfactants with benzene as the central core: design, synthesis and self-assembly study

The design, synthesis and self-assembled study of a new class of benzene-derived tripod facial amphiphiles are reported. The synthetic route chosen based on a central mesitylene as scaffold allows easy tuning of lipophilic and hydrophilic groups and thus control of the tensioactive properties of these new surfactants. This new class of surfactants exhibits three glucose moieties as the hydrophilic polar head and three hydrocarbon chains each having 3 to 7 carbons as the lipophilic part. These tripod facial amphiphiles exhibit well-defined tensioactive and aggregative properties. Their critical aggregation concentration, their particle size in water (less than 20 nm), and their aggregation behavior are closely linked to the nature of their lipophilic chains and can therefore be easily modulated.