Water-Ethylene Glycol Cationic Dimeric Micellar Solutions: Aggregation, Micellar Growth, and Characteristics As Reaction Media

Effects of ethylene glycol (EG) addition on the micellization and on the micellar growth in two aqueous didodecyl dicationic dibromide surfactant, 12-s-12,2Br(-) (s = 2, 6) solutions, with the weight percentage of EG up to 50%, have been investigated. An increment in the amount of EG makes the aggregation process less spontaneous due to the water-EG mixtures being better solvents for the cationic dimeric surfactant molecules than pure water (solvophobic effect). Results show that C*, the surfactant concentration where the sphere-to-rod transition occurs, increases when EG content in the bulk phase increases. The amount of the organic solvent influences C* principally through the decrease in the hydrocarbon/bulk phase interfacial tension (air/bulk phase surface tension) caused by its presence. Changes in the aggregation number, in the micropolarity, in the microviscosity, and in the theological behavior accompanying micellar growth were studied in the water-EG micellar solutions. Kinetic studies provide information about the characteristics of the dimeric micelles as microreactors. Kinetic data also show that an increase in the surfactant concentration leads to micellar growth.