In this work three fluorescent probes, containing pyrene as a chromophore and a trimethylalkylammonium head group, with varying alkyl chain length, are used to gain information about the distribution of adsorbed molecules on a clay surface. In aqueous suspensions, as reported previously, adsorbed molecules form clusters on the clay surface. To find out the determining factor of cluster formation, some experiments have been performed in nonaqueous media. In those experimental conditions no cluster formation is observed. This indicates that the driving force for the cluster formation is the hydrophobic effect. To influence the distribution of the adsorbed probes, the chain length of the alkyl tails of the detergent molecules must be at least as long as the total length of the alkyl chain of the probe and the pyrene chromophore. For probes with different alkyl chains there exists a critical chain length for the detergent to be effective in cluster destruction.
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