Effect of Hydrophobic Chains on Solubilization of Hydrocarbon and Fluorocarbon Surfactant Mixtures in Aqueous Solution

Study on Reversible Solubilization by Adjusting Surfactant Properties

Solubilization allows us to dissolve hydrophobic materials in water and to carry them to where they are needed. The purpose of this study is to control solubilization, especially the release of solubilized materials, via external stimulation. An amphoteric surfactant, dodecyldimethyl(3-sulfopropyl)ammonium hydroxide inner salt (SB-12), was employed, and a pH change was chosen as the external stimulus. We measured the surface tension of an SB-12 solution via the Wilhelmy method, and the absorbance of a solubilized solution was determined using UV-Vis spectroscopy at various pH values. The surface tension was almost the same at any pH, contrary to our expectations. This result suggests that the adsorption behavior and micelle formation of SB-12 were not affected by pH very much. On the other hand, the solubilization behavior remarkably depended on the pH. In particular, the solubilization ability under the basic condition was much larger than that under the acidic and neutral conditions. Taking advantage of such a difference in solubilization ability under some pH conditions, the solubilized material could be completely removed from the solution. Thus, we clarified the mechanism of release for solubilized materials due to a pH change.

Strong synergistic effect of cationic hydrocarbon surfactant and novel nonionic tri-block short-chain fluorocarbon surfactant mixtures on surface activity, wettability and solubilization

Abstract

Mixing hydrocarbon surfactants with fluorocarbon surfactants is still an important strategy to improve the economic benefits and performances of fluorocarbon surfactants and expand their range of application. Herein, we prepared a novel kind of hydrocarbon-fluorocarbon surfactant mixtures via mixing a cationic surfactant, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), with a tri-block nonionic short-chain fluorocarbon surfactant (F9EG13F9) in aqueous solution. The results showed that adding a small CTAB amount to F9EG13F9 (the molar fraction of CTAB in the mixture (x1) was 0.2) could greatly reduce its critical micelle concentrations (cmc) from 0.408 mmol/L to 0.191 mmol/L. At this x1, the contact angle of the mixture was the minimum (57.7 °) at 100 s on polytetrafluoroethylene film, which was even lower than that of F9EG13F9. Besides, CTAB/F9EG13F9 mixtures possessed better colloidal stability and solubilization ability toward hydrophobic dye (Sudan І) than F9EG13F9. The outstanding performances of binary surfactant mixtures benefited from the non-ideal mixing and strong synergistic effect evidence that CTAB/F9EG13F9 surfactant mixtures could be used in practical applications instead of individual F9EG13F9, thereby reducing the used cost of F9EG13F9.

Graphical abstract

Influence of Cationic Cetyltrimethylammonium Bromide on Rate of Zn(II)-Histidine Complex and Ninhydrin

Paper analyses the influence of cationic cetyltrimethylammonium bromide on rate of Zn(II)-histidine and ninhydrin. UV-visible spectroscopy was applied to note absorbance of Zn(II)-histidine complex with ninhydrin at the end of reaction in the two systems. Rate constant, k_obs, (in aqueous) and rate constant, k_ψ, (in cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, CTAB) were determined by computer software. Reactions depict first-order in Zn(II)-histidine concentration and fractional-order in ninhydrin concentration in aqueous and micellar media. The results achieved indicate that the reactions take place principally by the same reaction mechanism in both the media. Critical micelle concentration of CTAB surfactant was calculated by recording the conductivity as a function of surfactant concentrations. Influence of various amounts of surfactant on Zn(II)-histidine complex and ninhydrin reaction was performed under different reaction conditions. Reaction was catalyzed and accelerated efficiently by surfactant medium compared to aqueous medium. The observed influence of surfactant on rate has been mentioned in details and their quantitative treatment of kinetic results have been deduced by the means of Menger and Portnoy model for micellar catalysis.