Bicyclic Surfactants

Abstract

Fused and unfused bicyclic rings are a convenient scaffold for synthesizing various compounds. Amphiphilic compounds constructed upon a fused or unfused bicyclic ring scaffold may exhibit surfactant properties differing from those of more conventional classes of surfactants. Such amphiphilic compounds may have a structure of formula (I), wherein A is an aromatic ring, a heteroaromatic ring, or a cycloaliphatic ring, each ring being defined by 5 to 10 ring atoms, B is an aromatic ring or a heteroaromatic ring, each ring being defined by 5 to 6 ring atoms, wherein at least one G is a hydrophobic moiety and at least one G is a hydrophilic moiety, and z is 0 or a positive integer ranging up to the number of ring atoms in each of A and B; and wherein the hydrophobic moiety comprises branched or unbranched C6 to C30 alkyl or alkenyl group, and the hydrophilic moiety comprises a polar functional group selected from the group consisting of quaternary ammonium, sulfonate, sulfate, carboxylate, phosphate, and ethoxylated.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.