Volumes and heat capacities of transfer of ammonium salts from water to aqueous octyldimethylamine oxide at 25 °C

The effect of an additive on a water–surfactant system can be studied through thermodynamic functions of transfer of the additive from water to aqueous solutions of the surfactant. These thermodynamic functions often go through extrema in the region of the critical micellar concentration (cmc) of the surfactant. As it can be shown with a simple chemical equilibrium model, the general shape of the transfer functions is primarily related to the pair-wise hydrophobic interactions between the additive and the surfactant monomers, to a shift in the monomer–micelle equilibrium and to the distribution of the additive between the aqueous phase and the micelles. Medium and electrostatic effects are also possible, especially with ionic systems. To separate these effects and identify the salts which distribute themselves in the micelles, the volumes and heat capacities of transfer of hydrophobic ammonium salts from water to aqueous solutions of dimethyloctylamine oxide have been investigated. The short chain salts have only a small effect on monomer–micelle equilibrium by salting out the monomers, whereas the more hydrophobic ones participate also to the micellization process, shifting more strongly the surfactant monomer–micelle equilibrium.