Micelle Formation by Tritons in Aqueous Solutions

Abstract

The critical micellar concentrations and the mass-average micellar molecular masses of non-ionic surfactants, i. e. the members of the homologous series of t-octyl-phenoxy-polyethoxy-ethanols : Triton X-114, Triton X-100, Triton X-305, Triton X-405, and Triton X-705 have been determined by means of light scattering and other methods at 298 K. Variations in aggregation number from 6 to 220 (or micellar molecular mass from 19,000 to 120,000) have been found, depending on the length of monomeric molecule.These quantities, as well as c.m .c./mol dm-3 , decrease with the increasing length of the hydrophilic part of the molecule, as has already been reported for other non-ionic surfactants.