Effects of micellar charge density on the coefficient of the Corrin-Harkins relation

Effects of the micelle composition (ionic species fraction alpha(M)) on the coefficient of the Corrin-Harkins relation (k(CH)) of ionic/nonionic mixed micelles were examined in the case of dodecyldimethylamine oxide. Long alkyl chain amine oxides exist either in the nonionic or the cationic (protonated form) species depending on the pH of solutions and hence the control of the micelle composition near the critical micelle concentration (cmc) is possible by adjusting the pH of the solutions. On the basis of the cmc data from the surface tension measurements and the hydrogen ion titration curves, we evaluated the k(CH) values as a function of the micelle composition alpha(M) for the first time. The obtained k(CH) values were compared with the degree of the counterion binding, theta, in the solutions without added salt. The k(CH) values increased with alpha(M), and were approximately identical with theta for alpha(M)>0.4. In the range alpha(M)<0.4, it is likely that theta is greater than k(CH). An empirical relation proposed by D. G. Hall et al. ("Mixed Surfactant Systems," Am. Chem. Soc., Washington, D.C. 1992) on the relation between theta and the micelle composition was also compared with these experimental results. Experimental values, k(CH) and theta, followed the empirical relation for alpha(M)>0.4; however, both k(CH) and theta increased steeply in the range alpha(M) 0.25-0.3.