Structures of Langmuir films of bolaamphiphiles at the air/water interface

Bolaamphiphile, in which two head groups are linked by one or two hydrophobic chains, has been attracting much interest in recent years. The structures of the Langmuir films spread from two novel bolaamphiphiles containing alpha -naphthyl and beta -naphthyl groups at the air/water interface have been investigated. Surface pressure -area isotherms, AFM and XRD measurements reveal that when spreading at the air/water surface, the molecule containing alpha -naphthyl forms a triple-layer Langmuir film, while the one containing beta -naphthyl forms a stretched monolayer.