Dispersion of Vesicles Composed of Industrially Produced Alkyl (Oligo) Glucoside Using Diol-Boron Complexation

Alkyl (oligo)glucosides (AOG) are known to be environmentally compatible amphiphiles whose commercial applicability should be broadened. The present paper describes the preparation of molecular assemblies of industrially produced AOG, which is a mixture composed of different length of alkyl chains (C9-C12) with oligoglucoside moiety with a few (1–3) of glucose units. It was also described that regulation of the dispersibility of the molecular assemblies prepared by diol-boron complexation between the sugar moiety on AOG and boric acid in a dispersion medium. The molecular assembly of AOG was successfully formed by mixing AOG and cholesterols (CH). When using a suitable amount of CH (20–40 mol% with respect to AOG), the molecular assembly formed a vesicle structure. The dispersion ability of the resulting vesicle was dependent on both the boric acid concentration and pH of the dispersion medium. The light-scattering and ζ-potential measurements revealed that high concentrations (≥10 mM) of boric acid improved dispersibility the vesicles. In contrast, the vesicle agglomerated at low concentrations of boric acid (1–7.5 mM). In the absence of boric acid in dispersion medium, the vesicles were completely agglomerated. The optimum pH range for vesicle dispersion was found to be from neutral to basic (7.4–10.1). The 11B NMR study revealed that borate ester formation occurred between boric acid and the diol of the sugar moiety on AOG vesicle. The present data suggest that borate ester formation that occurred on the surface of the vesicle provided negative charge to the vesicles, contributing to their dispersion via repulsive forces.