Adsorption of Chicago Sky Blue on the Langmuir Monolayer and Langmuir-Blodgett Films of Octadecylamine

This paper reports the incorporation of an inhibitor of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), viz. Chicago Sky Blue (CSB) dye within an insoluble cationic octadecylamine (ODA) Langmuir monolayer. A surface pressure-area isotherm study confirmed the strong interaction between long chain amine and CSB dye. At higher surface pressure, CSB molecules tend to squeeze out from the octadecylamine monolayer. SEM study confirms this observation. Adsorption kinetics shows that the amount of dye adsorbed depends on the concentration of the dye present in the subphase. It was observed that the absorption process mainly occurred due to the electrostatic interaction between the cationic amino group of long chain amine and the sulphonate group of CSB dye. UV-Vis absorption spectroscopic study indicates the formation of aggregates of CSB dye in the mixed (ODA-CSB) LB films.