Solution behaviour of a formate capped surfactant—the oxidation product of an alcohol ethoxylate

Autor: Martin Svensson, Margareta Bergh, Irena Blute, Krister Holmberg, Ann-Therese Karlberg
Rok vydání: 1999
Předmět:
Zdroj: Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects. 160:229-236
ISSN: 0927-7757
DOI: 10.1016/s0927-7757(99)00188-0
Popis: The solution behaviour has been investigated for an alcohol ethoxylate terminated with a formic acid ester. This compound has previously been reported to be an important degradation product in the auto-oxidation of alcohol ethoxylates. In this work we have investigated the solution behaviour of the formic acid ester surfactant C 12 H 25 (OCH 2 CH 2 ) 4 OCHO (C12E4OCHO). The pure formate was found to be sparsely soluble in water with no clear point at 0.1%. The critical micelle concentration was found to be 129 μM at 35°C, compared to 50 μM for the parent surfactant C 12 H 25 (OCH 2 CH 2 ) 5 OH (C12E5). To mimic the behaviour of the oxidised surfactant, the formate was mixed in different ratios with C12E5 and the cloud point, surface tension and critical micelle concentration (cmc) of these mixtures were studied. The gradual increase of formate was found to shift the cloud point and isotropic regions to lower temperatures. The cmc of the mixture was found to be lower than for the pure surfactant. The favourable interaction was analysed according to the non-ideal model by Rubingh and the interaction parameter, β , was determined to be −4±0.53, which is unusually large for a mixture of two non-ionic surfactants. These results indicate that the reduction of cloud point observed during oxidation of non-ionic surfactants can in part be attributed to the formation of formate esters.
Databáze: OpenAIRE