Amphiphilic properties of dumbbell-shaped inorganic-organic-inorganic molecular hybrid materials in solution and at an interface.

Five novel dumbbell-shaped polyoxometalate (POM)-based inorganic-organic-inorganic molecular hybrids are investigated both in polar solvents and at interfaces for potential amphiphilic properties, which are compared with those of conventional surfactants. These hybrids with the general formula {P(2)V(3)W(15)}(2)-bis(TRIS)-linker are formed by linking two Wells-Dawson-type clusters, [P(2)V(3)W(15)O(62)](9-), with different linear bis(TRIS) linker ligands between the two TRIS moieties. Laser light scattering (LLS) studies reveal the presence of self-assembled vesicular structures in water/acetone mixed solvents, and the vesicle size increases with increasing acetone content, suggesting a charge-regulated process. The elastic constants, which are used to calculate the bending energy during vesicle formation, reveal that the organic ligands play an important role in determining the self-assembly process and that the hybrids do demonstrate amphiphilic behavior at the water/air interface. Furthermore, it is shown that some of the hybrids form monolayers at the interface, with an average molecular area that can be correlated with their organic linkers, as determined from their π-A isotherms. Finally, the hybrids not only display amphiphilic behavior akin to that of a surfactant but also exhibit an unusually high entropy contribution to vesicle formation as a result of their unique large, polar head groups, complex organic linkers, and their special molecular architectures as well as because of the involvement of the amphiphilic tetrabutylammonium (TBA) counterions.