(34a) Fundamental Insights into Polymer—Surfactant Complex Formation

Polymer—surfactant complexation is leveraged to formulate a range of industrial products, including pharmaceuticals, home and personal care formulations, food formulations, and enhanced oil recovery solutions. Thus, polymer—surfactant complexes have been the subject of decades of research. This presentation will focus on the recent discovery that cationically modified dextran polymers can complex with anionic surfactants to form nanometric complexes with anomalously high deposition onto substrates. A suite of colloidal methods (high-throughput phase studies, optical microscopy, dynamic light scattering, small-angle X-ray scattering, and liquid-phase transmission electron microscopy) was used to characterize the cationic dextran—anionic surfactant complex morphology. The morphology of the complex is revealed to be unique relative to those formed by other commonly used cationically modified polysaccharides based on guar or hydroxyethyl cellulose. Dextran is derived from fermentation and biodegradable, and thus the fundamentals revealed in this presentation may form the basis of new, more sustainable product formulations.