The new water-soluble amphiphilic phosphines R-(C
6H
4)-(OCH
2CH
2)
nP(Ph)CH
2CH
2SO
3Na (R =
tert-octyl,
![](/images/entities/nmacr.gif)
= 1.4, 5.1, 11.2; R =
n-nonyl,
![](/images/entities/nmacr.gif)
= 1.6, 5.6, 11.4) and RP(Ph)CH
2CH
2SO
3Na(R =
n-octyl, CH
3(OCH
2CH
2)
3) have been synthesized and characterized by NMR (
1H,
13C,
31P) and ES mass spectroscopy. The respective Pd(II) complexes were prepared by reactionwith PdCl
2(COD). Water solutions of ligands and Pd(II) complexes exhibit surfactantproperties that have been studied by surface tension measurements. The critical micelleconcentration (cmc) and the area occupied per molecule absorbed in the air/water interfacewere determined. These data show that the cmc's of ligands are significantly higher thanthose of their respective metal complexes. This finding can be understood by consideringthe metal complex as a pseudo gemini surfactant. The values of area occupied per moleculein the interface show that ligands with a middle polyether chain yielded the metal complexeswith the highest metal concentration in the interface.