Studies on the molecular interaction of safranin-T with surfactants

The spectrophotometric studies of safranin-T (Saf-T) dye in an aqueous solution containing three different types of surfactants such as CTAB (cationic), SLS (anionic) and Triton X-100 (TX-100), Tween-20, 40, 60 and 80 (nonionic) show that Saf-T forms a 1:1 molecular complex with TX-100, Tweens and SLS. Such a type of interaction is absent in Saf-T and CTAB. The thermodynamic and spectrophotometric properties of these complexes suggest that Saf-T forms a strong charge transfer (CT) complex with TX-100 and Tweens, whereas the interaction of Saf-T with SLS is coulombic in nature. Photogalvanic and photoconductometric studies also support the above interactions. In addition to this, the electron-donating ability among the nonionic surfactants i.e. TX-100 and Tweens towards dye, role of surface in CT interaction, the site of CT interaction and the intensity and stability of CT interaction between Saf-T and nonionic surfactants have been pointed out.