Effects of structural variations of non-ionic surfactants on micellar properties and solubilization: variation of...

Studies on erucyl alcohol ethoxylated with 40 and 47 units, and on behenyl alcohol ethoxylated with 33 and 43 units, gave values of 106, 101, 271, and 304 (all X 10(3)) for the micellar weight, 51,42,152, and 137 for the aggregation numbers, and 257,362,209, and 311 moles water mol-1 surfactant for the micellar hydration, respectively. Measurements of the solubilization of azobenzene, cortisone acetate, griseofulvin, sulphadiazine, phenylbutazone, betamethasone, tolbutamide, and menaphthone showed that the erucyl derivatives were better solubilizers than the behenyl compounds, and that solubilization increased as the polyoxyethylene chain was shortened; this change was more pronounced with the erucyl compounds.