J Surfact Deterg (2019) 22: 3–4
DOI 10.1002/jsde.12236
EDITORIAL
Gemini Surfactants Virtual Issue
Gemini surfactants are an exciting new class of surfactants
comprised of two surfactant molecules connected at or near
the headgroup with a spacer. Gemini surfactants exhibit
greater surface activity than conventional single-chain sur-
factants due to increased hydrophobic interaction with
water. The critical micelle concentration (CMC) and inter-
facial tension are typically much lower than conventional
surfactants and depend on the nature and length of the
spacer group. Gemini surfactants show unique rheological
properties and form worm-like micelles and vesicles at low
concentrations in water.
The enhanced surface activity of Gemini surfactants
results in improved performance in different applications.
Cationic Gemini surfactants show strong adsorption to neg-
atively charged surfaces and can be used to provide corro-
sion resistance under acidic conditions. Gemini surfactants
also show extremely effective antimicrobial properties
against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. The
enhanced interfacial activity and rheological properties of
cationic Gemini surfactants make them ideal candidates for
fracking fluids and enhanced oil recovery.
While Gemini surfactants show improved properties over
conventional surfactants, they tend to be expensive and dif-
ficult to synthesize, which limit their large-scale industrial
production. It is possible to construct Gemini and oligo-
meric surfactants by noncovalent interactions. Pseudo-
Gemini surfactants formed by electrostatic interactions
show many of the desirable properties of Gemini surfac-
tants formed by covalent bonding.
In this special collection of articles (available online on
the Journal’s website), recent work on new Gemini surfac-
tants is presented. Zhou et al. (2018) have reviewed the
synthesis of anionic Gemini surfactants containing sulfo-
nate groups and zwitterionic Gemini surfactants (Zhou
et al., 2017a) containing anionic and cationic groups in the
same molecule. The same group (Zhou et al., 2017b) has
reported on novel switchable tertiary amine Gemini surfac-
tants whose properties can be regulated by bubbling CO2
or N2 into solution.
Kamal (2016) has reviewed the use of Gemini surfac-
tants in enhanced oil recovery. Enhanced surface activity,
unique aggregation behavior, and the ability to achieve
* Email: George A. Smith
george.smith@us.sasol.com
J Surfact Deterg (2019) 22: 3–4
ultra-low interfacial tension make them ideal candidates for
enhanced oil recovery. Yang et al. (2018) have reported on
the effects of surfactant concentration and counterions on
the rheological properties of quaternary ammonium Gemini
surfactants in high-performance fracturing fluids. Wei
et al. (2016) have reported on the rheological properties of
cationic Gemini surfactants in ethylene glycol–water
solutions. Sodium salicylate was found to promote visco-
elasticity to a greater extent than sodium benzoate in
self-thickening deicing fluids.
El-Said et al. (2018) have reported on the synthesis of
trimeric cationic surfactants and have demonstrated these to
be good candidates for preparing mesoporous silica nano-
particles using sol–gel methods. Peng et al. (2018) have
reported on the synthesis of fluorescent Gemini surfactants
with a rigid spacer. The new fluorescent Gemini surfactants
form H aggregates in organic solvents to give blue emis-
sion and J aggregates in aqueous solution to give green
emission, making them ideal probes for imaging membrane
structures.
Łudzik et al. (2018) have investigated the antibacterial
and cytotoxic properties of bisquaternary ammonium bro-
mides as a function of the spacer chain length. This group
of Gemini surfactants shows excellent long-term antibacter-
ial properties against Gram-positive and Gram-negative
bacteria as well as antifungal properties. Cytotoxicity can
be regulated by adjusting the spacer chain length. Ahire
and Bhagwat (2017) have seen similar antibacterial proper-
ties from anionic Gemini surfactants containing ester bonds
in the spacer group. The Gemini surfactants also show
excellent wettability and low foamability.
Pisárcik et al. (2016) have reported on the aggregation of
bisammonium cationic Gemini surfactants with variable
polymethylene spacer groups. The micellar aggregation
was found to increase with decreasing spacer size by time-
resolved fluorescent quenching. Hussain et al. (2017) inves-
tigated the effect of isomerization on the properties of
amido-amine cationic Gemini surfactants containing flexi-
ble and rigid spacer groups. Gemini surfactants with the
double bond in the trans-configuration showed better sur-
face properties than the cis-isomers. Liu et al. (2017) and
Xu et al. (2016) reported on the preparation, characteriza-
tion, and properties of cationic Gemini surfactants with
rigid spacer groups. The Gemini surfactants show enhanced
surface activity and emulsification properties. Zhang
4 J Surfact Deterg
et al. (2015) have reported on the use of cationic quaternary
ammonium Gemini surfactants as corrosion inhibitors for
carbon steel. Xu et al. (2015) have reported on the interac-
tions of binary mixtures of anionic and cationic Gemini
surfactants in aqueous solution.
Zhu et al. (2016) have reviewed strategies for construct-
ing Gemini and oligomeric surfactants using noncovalent
interactions. By selecting the proper building blocks, it is
possible to construct surfactant systems with the character-
istics of Gemini surfactants without complicated synthesis
or purification schemes.
Conflict of Interest The author declares that he has no conflict of
interest.
George A. Smith, Editor-in-Chief
Sasol North America, Lake Charles, LA, USA
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2019-8
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J Surfact Deterg (2019) 22: 3–4