Solute-solvent interactions in surfactant adsorption: Part I. The influence of the polar head

This study deals with the variation of the interfacial tension of mercury aqueous solutions with potential and concentrations for solutions of butanol. butyric acid, butyramide and butyl monoether glycol. The results obtained have been analysed using an isotherm proposed by Bennes leading to values for the energy of adsorption corrected for the influence of the solute-solvent interactions in solution.A correlation has been revealed been to exist between the corrected energy of adsorption, the hydrophobicity coefficient and the dipole moment of the molecule which are all parameters related to the nature of the hydrophilic grouping.These result serve to show how the adsorption on mercury can be used to approach the problem of interactions between molecules in surfactant solutions.