Effect of structural variations of non-ionic surfactants on surface properties: surfactants with semi-polar...

The surface properties of a series of non-ionic surfactants in which a polar group (either an ether or a keto group) has been introduced into a hydrocarbon chain of octadecylpolyoxyethylene glycol monoether (C18E17-19) have been investigated. Surface tension measurements indicated that the critical micelle concentrations for these semi-polar surfactants in aqueous solution were all significantly higher than those of C18E22, the corresponding unsubstituted octadecylpolyoxyethylene glycol monoether. The minimum areas per molecule of the semi-polar surfactants in the surface monolayer were all larger than the area obtained for C18E22, from which it was concluded that the hydrophobe, and not the polyoxyethylene chain was the main determinant of surface area.