Micellar properties of zwitterionic surfactant - alkoxyethanol mixed micelles

The micelle formation process for a zwitterionic surfactant, N-dodecyl-N,N-dimethyl-3-ammonio-1-propanesulfonate (ZW3-12), has been investigated in a series of mixed solvents consisting of different concentrations of ethoxylated alcohols and polymers. The critical micelle concentrations (cmc values) of the aggregates were determined by fluorescence spectroscopy, and the surfactant aggregation numbers were obtained from luminescence probing experiments. The cmc values for ZW3-12 changed very little in the presence of increasing amounts of poly(ethyleneoxide) (PEO) in the mixed solvent. In the case of the ethoxylated alcohol - ZW3-12 systems, the cmc values and aggregation numbers decreased systematically with increasing alcohol concentration. However, the cmc values of the mixed micelles showed little dependence on the number of ethylene oxide (EO) groups at constant alcohol concentration. These results are compared with the well-studied sodium dodecylsulfate - ethoxylated alcohol, and dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide - ethoxylated alcohol mixed micellar systems and to SDS-PEO systems and are discussed in terms of the contribution of the EO groups to the hydrophobic interactions.