Thermally cleavable surfactants

Patent · 24 November 2009

OSTI ID:971076

McElhanon, James R ^[1]; Simmons, Blake A ^[2]; Zifer, Thomas ^[1]; Jamison, Gregory M ^[3]; Loy, Douglas A ^[3]; Rahimian, Kamyar ^[3]; Long, Timothy M ^[4]; Wheeler, David R ^[3]; Staiger, Chad L ^[3]

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1. Manteca, CA
2. San Francisco, CA
3. Albuquerque, NM
4. Urbana, IL

Two new surfactant molecules are reported which contain thermally labile Diels-Alder adducts connecting the polar and non-polar sections of each molecule. The two surfactants possess identical non-polar dodecyl tail segments but exhibit different polar headgroups. The surfactants become soluble in water when anionic salts are formed through the deprotonation of the surfactant headgroups by the addition of potassium hydroxide. When either surfactant is exposed to temperature above about 60.degree. C., the retro Diels-Alder reaction occurs, yielding hydrophilic and hydrophobic fragments or the aqueous solutions of the surfactants subsequently exhibit loss of all surface-active behavior.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA
• Sponsoring Organization: United States Department of Energy
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-94AL85000
• Assignee: Sandia Corporation (Livermore, CA)
• Patent Number(s): 7,622,596
• Application Number: 11/394,294
• OSTI ID: 971076
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY