SILICON-MODIFIED CARBOHYDRATE SURFACTANTS .4. THE IMPACT OF SUBSTRUCTURES ON THE WETTING BEHAVIOR OF SILOXANYL-MODIFIED CARBOHYDRATE SURFACTANTS ON LOW-ENERGY SURFACES

The siloxanyl-modified carbohydrate surfactants investigated consist o f the four structural elements: (1) siloxanyl moiety; (2) spacer; (3) carbohydrate unit; and (4) modifying element, By static surface tensio n (gamma 1v, delta) and wetting tension (gamma(sv) - gamma(sl), alpha) measurements the contact angles of aqueous surfactant solutions above the critical micelle formation concentration (cmc) on nonpolar perflu orinated surfaces (FEP(R) plate) were determined, Although the siloxan yl units were found to have a high capacity to level out the interfaci al properties, both surface tension and wetting tension react independ ently to defined changes in the chemical structure of the surfactant m olecules, The results of spreading experiments on polypropylene show g ood correlation with the dependences found by wetting measurements. (C ) 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.