Surface and volume properties of dodecylethyldimethylammonium bromide and benzyldimethyldodecylammonium bromide: II. Volumetric properties of dodecylethyldimethylammonium bromide and benzyldimethyldodecylammonium bromide

Density measurements were carried out for aqueous solutions of two cationic surfactants: dodecylethyldimethylammonium bromide (C₁₂(EDMAB)) and benzyldimethyldodecylammonium bromide (BDDAB). On the basis of the obtained results of the measurements the CMC and partial molar volumes of the surfactants studied were also determined. The obtained CMC values were also analyzed with those accounted on the basis of the surface tension data from the previous paper [J. Harkot, B. Jańczuk, J. Colloid Interface Sci. (2008), submitted for publication]. The values of CMC determined from the surface tension and density measurements for C₁₂(EDMAB) are equal to 9.9×10⁻³ and 1.5×10⁻² M and for BDDAB to 5.25×10⁻³ and 5.3×10⁻³ M, respectively. These obtained values are very similar. However, in the literature it is difficult to find the CMC values for C₁₂(EDMAB) and BDDAB determined by these two methods used by us—especially from the density measurements for BDDAB and surface tension measurements for C₁₂(EDMAB). In the case of the apparent molar volumes of C₁₂(EDMAB) there is a good agreement between the values obtained by us and those found in the literature. The CMC values for C₁₂(EDMAB) and BDDAB were also determined on the basis of their surface tension and free energy of electrostatic interactions between the polar heads of these surfactants and compared with those obtained from the surface tension and density measurements. It was found that the theoretically obtained CMC values were close to those determined from the density and surface tension data for the C₁₂(EDMAB) and that the ratios of the CMC values of the surfactants to their concentration at which the water surface tension decreased by about 20 mN/m proved that the presence of the aryl group in the BDDAB head instead of the methyl group caused that its micellization process was more inhibited in relation to its adsorption at air–water interface than that of C₁₂(EDMAB).