Study of micellar behavior of crown ether and tetraethylammonium bromide in aqueous media

Abstract

Conductivity measurements have been carried out to study the micellar behavior of tetraethylammonium bromide in presence of 15-crown-5 in aqueous media. The measurements were carried out at 298.15 K as a function of surfactant concentration with varying concentrations of crown ether. The influence of this association on the micellar parameters, such as the cmc (critical micellization concentration) and β (degree of counterion dissociation) have been analyzed. Thermodynamics of the systems were discussed in terms of the change in free energy of micellisation, ΔGm0 by applying the charged pseudo-phase separation model. The trend shows that the micellization becomes less spontaneous in presence of crown ether. The influence of the presence of the inclusion complex on the micellization process of the surfactant has been studied.