Abstract

This study explores the effect of the structural change of novel sulfonamide based-surfactants on the surfactant’s behavior and antimicrobial activity. In order, to meet this as our primary goal, three different series, biphenyl-4,4'-disulfonamides (Series A, A_1-4), amine acid salts of 2,2`-[biphenyl-4,4'-diylbis(sulfonylimine)] dianiline (Series B, B_1-4) and their corresponding copper and cobalt complexes (Series C, C_1-2), were prepared. The structures of the desired compounds were confirmed by using elemental analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), proton nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H NMR) and UV-Vis spectral analysis. In addition to these spectroscopic measurements, compounds C₁ and C₂ (Series C) were subsequently characterized extensively by atomic absorption methods. Also as our secondary goal, we have measured some physical properties as surface tension (γ), critical micelle concentration (cmc), the surface excess concentration (Γ_max) and the cross-sectional area per adsorbed surfactant head group (A_min). Finally, the investigation has been continued to cover the antibacterial and antifungal screening for all synthesized compounds as well as the antitumor activity for some of them.

Key words: Sulfonamide based-surfactants, surface properties, antimicrobial screening and antitumor activity.