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Studies of the Micellization of Cationic–Anionic Surfactant Systems in Water and Methanol–Water Mixed Solvents

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Measurements of the conductance of binary mixtures of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide and sodium dodecylsulfate in pure water and in methanol–water mixed solvent media containing 0.10, 0.20, and 0.30 volume fractions of methanol at 308.15, 318.15, and 323.15 K are reported. The concentration of sodium dodecylsulfate varied from 0.001 to 0.04 mol·L−1 in the presence of ~5.0 × 10−4 mol·L−1 cetyltrimethylammonium bromide. The results showed a sharp increase in the conductance with increasing concentrations of the surfactant mixture. The conductance is found to increase with increasing temperature over the entire concentration range in pure water and in a given mixed solvent medium but is found to decrease with increasing methanol content in the solvent. Estimation of the pre-cmc (S 1) and post-cmc (S 2) slopes for the CTAB–SDS system, to calculate the critical micelle concentration, provides important insight regarding the solution behavior of the mixed surfactants. The critical micelle concentration (cmc) and degree of micellar dissociation (α) of sodium dodecylsulfate in the presence of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide increase in the methanol–water mixed solvent medium. Additionally, the values of cmc and α increase with increasing temperature. The thermodynamic functions for the micellization were calculated at various conditions.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a Research Grant for the fiscal year 2012/2013 of Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), Khumaltar, Lalitpur, Nepal under Research Grant Program. This work was also supported by the grant from University Grants Commission, Nepal for some chemicals. The author is grateful to Professor Bijan Das, presently in the Department of Chemistry, Presidency University, Kolkata, India for valuable suggestions and discussions. The author sincerely thanks the Head of the Department of Chemistry, Mahendra Morang Adarsh Multiple Campus, Tribhuvan University, Biratnagar, Nepal for providing the available research facilities to conduct this work.

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Bhattarai, A. Studies of the Micellization of Cationic–Anionic Surfactant Systems in Water and Methanol–Water Mixed Solvents. J Solution Chem 44, 2090–2105 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10953-015-0391-4

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