SOLUBILIZATION OF NONPOLAR COMPOUNDS BY NONIONIC SURFACTANT MICELLES

Abstract

The distribution of non-polar hydrophobic organic compounds (HOCs) between various surfactant micellar pseudophases and water is examined. Experimental measurements have been made with nine non-ionic surfactants and one anionic surfactant with hexachlorobenzene. These distributions have been quantified with micelle-water partition coefficients, Km (M−1), which are calculated utilizing the chemical's solubility in distilled water. With this data and information previously published on other HOCs and surfactants, a simple semi-empirical equation was constructed that relates micelle-water partition coefficients, Km, to octanol-water partition coefficients, Kow, and surfactant structural propert..