Metallosurfactants: Interfaces and micelles

Incorporating a metal cation as an integral component of the headgroup of a surfactant – a metallosurfactant – offers a route to concentrate these ions and their associated functionality at interfaces. To reduce the lability of the metal, various chelating or macrocyclic ligands may be employed leading to a family of homologous series of related metallosurfactants with a structural diversity that is arguably broader than is inherently possible with conventional surfactants. This review discusses the small number of key papers that are quantifying the physico–chemical properties of metallosurfactants and highlights their “classical” as well as “non-classical” surfactant behaviour, providing an insight into the structure of micelles and films formed from these novel materials.