Effect of charge distribution along surfactant molecules on physico-chemical properties of surfactant systems

Abstract

It is known that electrical charge of a surfactant distributes along the molecule including the hydrophobic tail. The charge distributions of some hydrogenated/fluorinated surfactant molecules have been estimated by semiempirical quantum chemical methods PM3. The relationships between the charge distribution and the physico-chemical properties of surfactant systems, in particular the mixed surfactant systems, i.e., cationic–anionic surfactant mixture, ionic surfactant–alkyl alcohol mixture, nonionic–ionic surfactant mixture, polymer–surfactant mixture, have been discussed. It has been shown that besides the hydrophobic effect and fluorocarbon-hydrocarbon chain mutual-phobocity, the charge distribution of surfactant molecules obviously influences the physico-chemical properties of surfactant systems.