Metallosurfactant aggregates: Structures, properties, and potentials for multifarious applications

Sonam Kumari; Monika Nehra; Shikha Jain; Neeraj Dilbaghi; Ganga Ram Chaudhary; Ki-Hyun Kim; Sandeep Kumar

doi:10.1016/j.cis.2023.103065

Metallosurfactant aggregates: Structures, properties, and potentials for multifarious applications

Adv Colloid Interface Sci. 2024 Jan:323:103065. doi: 10.1016/j.cis.2023.103065. Epub 2023 Dec 6.

Authors

Sonam Kumari¹, Monika Nehra², Shikha Jain³, Neeraj Dilbaghi³, Ganga Ram Chaudhary⁴, Ki-Hyun Kim⁵, Sandeep Kumar⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry and Centre of Advanced Studies in Chemistry, Panjab University Chandigarh, 160014, India; Department of Bio and Nano Technology, Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar, Haryana, 125001, India.
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, University Institute of Engineering and Technology, Panjab University, Chandigarh 160014, India.
³ Department of Bio and Nano Technology, Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar, Haryana, 125001, India.
⁴ Department of Chemistry and Centre of Advanced Studies in Chemistry, Panjab University Chandigarh, 160014, India.
⁵ Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Hanyang University, 222 Wangsimni-Ro, Seoul 04763, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: kkim61@hanyang.ac.kr.
⁶ Department of Bio and Nano Technology, Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar, Haryana, 125001, India; Physics Department, Punjab Engineering College (Deemed to be University), Chandigarh 160012, India. Electronic address: ksandeep36@yahoo.com.

PMID: 38091690
DOI: 10.1016/j.cis.2023.103065

Abstract

Metallosurfactants offer important scientific and technological advances due to their novel interfacial properties. As a special class of structures formed by the integration of metal ions into amphiphilic surfactant molecules, these metal-based amphiphilic molecules possess both organometallic and surface chemistries. This review critically examines the structural transitions of metallosurfactants from micelle to vesicle upon metal coordination. The properties of a metallosurfactant can be changed by tuning the coordination between the metal ions and surfactants. The self-assembled behavior of surfactants can be controlled by selecting transition-metal ions that enhance their catalytic efficiency in environmental applications by applying a hydrogen evolution reaction or oxygen evolution reaction. We present the different scattering techniques available to examine the properties of metallosurfactants (e.g., size, shape, structure, and aggregation behavior). The utility of metallosurfactants in catalysis, the synthesis of nanoparticles, and biomedical applications (involving diagnostics and therapeutics) is also explored.

Keywords: Aggregation; Bioimaging; Catalysis; Metallosurfactants; Scattering techniques; Therapeutics.