Scintillation phase method: A new approach for studying surfactant behavior at liquid/liquid interface

Radiochemical approach for the investigation of partitioning and adsorption of surfactants at water-oil interfaces has been developed. The so-called “scintillation phase method” is based on the introduction of tritium labeled surfactant in an aqueous phase of the water-oil system followed by measuring radioactivity of the whole system. Partition coefficients and the value of adsorption at water-non-polar liquid interfaces of homologous series of alkyltrimethylammonium bromides (DTAB, TTAB and CTAB) have been experimentally determined by means of scintillation phase method. The influence of non-ionic surfactants on TTAB adsorption has also been studied.