Investigation of structure–surface properties relationship of semi-fluorinated polymerizable cationic surfactants

Abstract Novel hybrid hydrocarbon/fluorocarbon ammonium type surfactant monomers (surfmers) of the general formula R F (CH 2 ) l N(CH 3 ) 2 (CH 2 ) m OCOCH = CH 2 with ( R F  = C 4 F 9 , C 6 F 13 , C 8 F 17 , l  = 4, 6, 11, and m  = 2–11) were synthesized and characterized. They exhibit very low surface tension as well as low critical micellar concentrations down to 1.39 × 10 −5  mol/L. Special attention was focused on theeffect of the polymerizable moiety, the length of the hydrocarbon spacers, and the fluorinated chains on surface activities of the reactive surfactants as compared to hydrocarbon surfmer analogs. Results indicate that the acrylic function has a pronounced effect on increasing the hydrophobic micelle character. This was confirmed by surface tensions and average surfaces occupied by these molecules at the water–gas interface. The micellar sizes were investigated by dynamic light scattering.