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Critical Behavior and Ensuing Phase Separations in Paraben-Solubilized Micellar Solutions of Ionic Surfactants

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Journal of Surfactants and Detergents

Abstract

Aqueous solutions of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) show micellar growth in the presence of various organic and inorganic additives. The simultaneous presence of some of these additives exhibit synergistic effects on micellar growth in this system due to their diverse nature of influences on the critical packing parameter of CTAB micelles. In this manuscript, we report dynamic light scattering, small-angle neutron scattering and rheological studies on influences of the widely used preservative butyl paraben and NaCl on the growth and interaction of CTAB micelles. These additives show synergism in micellar growth and induce micellar attraction-driven phase separations of both upper consolute temperature and lower consolute temperature regimes in aqueous solutions of CTAB. Quite interestingly, such micellar attraction-driven phase separations are also induced in aqueous systems of other cationic and anionic surfactants in the simultaneous presence of a hydrophobic substance and NaCl. These systematic observations of micellar attraction-driven phase separation are the first of this kind in aqueous systems of ionic surfactants. The results also suggest that the use of parabens as preservatives in some ionic surfactantbased formulations can also help in tuning their rheological characteristics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Veer Narmad South Gujarat University, Surat, 395007, India

    Urja Patel, Paresh Parekh & Pratap Bahadur

  2. Solid State Physics Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Center, Mumbai, 400085, India

    Debes Ray & Vinod Kumar Aswal

  3. Chemistry Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Center, Mumbai, 400085, India

    Rajib Ganguly

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  1. Urja Patel
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  2. Paresh Parekh
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  4. Vinod Kumar Aswal
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Correspondence to Rajib Ganguly.

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Patel, U., Parekh, P., Ray, D. et al. Critical Behavior and Ensuing Phase Separations in Paraben-Solubilized Micellar Solutions of Ionic Surfactants. J Surfact Deterg 19, 1043–1052 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11743-016-1856-1

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