Critical micelle concentration hydrophile structure

One of the most important characteristics of the emulsifier is its CMC, which is defined as the critical concentration value below which no micelle formation occurs. The critical micelle concentration of an emulsifier is determined by the structure and the number of hydrophilic and hydrophobic groups included in the emulsifier molecule. The hydrophile-lipophile balance (HLB) number is a good criterion for the selection of proper emulsifier. The HLB scale was developed by W. C. Griffin [46,47]. Based on his approach, the HLB number of an emulsifier can be calculated by dividing... 

Surfactants have a unique long-chain molecular structure composed of a hydrophilic head and hydrophobic tail. Based on the nature of the hydrophilic part surfactants are generally categorized as anionic, non-ionic, cationic, and zwitter-ionic. They all have a natural tendency to adsorb at surfaces and interfaces when added in low concentration in water. Surfactant absorption/desorption at the vapor-liquid interface alters the surface tension, which decreases continually with increasing concentrations until the critical micelle concentration (CMC), at which micelles (colloid-sized clusters or aggregates of monomers) start to form is reached (Manglik et al. 2001 Hetsroni et al. 2003c). 

Molecules that possess both hydrophilic and hydrophobic structures may associate in aqueous media to form dynamic aggregates, commonly known as micelles. The properties of micellar structures have been discussed in great detail [66-69], but thejr main pharmaceutical application lies in their ability to provide enhanced solubility to compounds lacking sufficient aqueous solubility [70], The ability of a micelle to solubilize compounds of limited aqueous solubility can be understood from consideration of the schematic drawing of Fig. 10a. Above the critical micelle concentration, these molecules orient themselves with the polar ends in interfacing with the aqueous solution and the nonpolar ends at the interior. A hydrophobic core is formed at the interior of the micelle, and hydrophobic solute molecules enter and occupy this region. 

A wide structural variation is possible within each class of molecules because both the length of the hydrophobic portion and the nature of the hydrophilic head group, as well as its position along the backbone, may be varied. The properties of the aggregates formed from these surfactants and the conditions under which they are formed depends on all these parameters. As the concentration of the surfactant in an aqueous solution is increased, many of the chemical and physical properties of the solution change rather abruptly (but continuously) over a concentration range known as the critical micelle concentration (CMC). 

The structure and properties of water soluble dendrimers, such as 46, is, in itself, a very promising area of research due to their similarity with natural micellar systems. As can be seen from the two-dimensional representation of 46 the structure contains a hydrophobic inner core surrounded by a hydrophilic layer of carboxylate groups (Fig. 12). However these dendritic micelles differ from traditional micelles in that they are static, covalently bound structures instead of dynamic associations of individual molecules. A number of studies have exploited this unique feature of dendritic micelles in the design of novel recyclable solubilization and extraction systems that may find great application in the recovery of organic materials from aqueous solutions [84,86-88]. These studies have also shown that dendritic micelles can solubilize hydrophobic molecules in aqueous solution to the same, if not greater, extent than traditional SDS micelles. The advantages of these dendritic micelles are that they do not suffer from a critical micelle concentration and therefore display solvation ability at nanomolar... 

The properties of surfactant at low concentration in water are similar to those of simple electrolytes except that the surface tension decreases sharply with increase in concentration. At a certain concentration, surfactant monomers assemble to form a closed aggregate (micelle) in which the hydrophobic tails are shielded from water while the hydrophilic heads face water. The critical aggregation concentration is called the critical micelle concentration (CMC) when micelles form in an aqueous medium. The CMC is a property of the surfactant. It indicates the point at which monolayer adsorption is complete and the surface active properties are at an optimum. Above the CMC, the concentrations of monomers are nearly constant. Hence, there are no significant changes in the surfactant properties of the solution since the monomers are the cause of the surface activity. Micelles have no surface activity and any increase in the surfactant concentration does not affect the number of monomers in the solution but affects the structure of micelles. 

Surfactants are organic molecules that possess a nonpolar hydrocarbon tail and a polar head. The polar head can be anionic, cationic, or nonionic. Because of the existence of the two moieties in one molecule, surfactants have limited solubility in polar and nonpolar solvents. Their solubility is dependent on the hydrophile-lipophile balance of their molecular structure. At a critical concentration, they form aggregates in either type of solvent. This colloidal aggregation is referred to as micellization, and the concentration at which it occurs is known as the critical micelle concentration. The term micelle was coined by McBain (7) to designate the aggregated solute. In water or other polar solvents, the micellar structure is such that the hydrophobic tails of the surfactant molecules are clustered together and form the interior of a sphere. The surface of the sphere consists of the hydrophilic heads. In nonpolar solvents, the orientation of the molecules is reversed. 

Fixation of hydrophilic units as side-groups of a hydrophobic macromolecular chain leads to water-soluble polysoaps [205], exhibiting a similar diversity of self-organized structures like the monomeric analogues. A detailed review can be found in [206]. In contrast to polyelectrolytes and ionomers described above, the association of the amphiphilic groups of polysoaps occurs preferentially intramolecularly. As a consequence the solution viscosity remains low, even for highly concentrated solutions [207] and no critical micelle concentration (CMC) can be found up to extreme dilutions [208,209]. 

Micelles are colloidal particles formed by the concentration-dependent aggregation of surfactant molecules (1). In an aqueous environment micelles form when the hydrophobic portions of the surfactant molecules begin to associate at a surfactant concentration that is referred to as the "critical micelle concentration", or CMC, as a result of hydrophobic effects In water, a micelle has a hydrophobic core and a charged surface that is the result of the orientation of ionizable or hydrophilic functional groups out into the bulk solution At concentrations prior to the CMC the surfactant molecules migrate to the solution-air interface which disturbs the structure of the water molecules and results in a decrease in the solution s surface tension (2), At concentrations greater than the CMC, increasing... 

One of the most widely used indexes for evaluating surfactant activity is the critical micelle concentration (CMC). The CMC is in effect the solubility of a surfactant within an aqueous phase, or the minimum surfactant concentration required for reaching the lowest interfacial or surface tension values y. At concentrations above the CMC, surfactants associate readily to form micelles that can be spherical, oblate, tablet shaped, or rod-like, with a hydrophilic surface and a hydrophobic interior. Such micellar structures usually have hydrodynamic radii, ranging from 200 to 400 A. The CMC value is estimated from the inflection point in the y vs log C curve. 

Surfactants tend to form colloidal-sized association structures, or micelles, when the concentration is above a particular level termed the critical micelle concentration (CMC). In such structures, the hydrophobic portions of the surfactants are buried in the micelle interior, and the hydrophilic heads are oriented toward the bulk solution [125],... 

I.J. Lin, The hydrophilic-lipophilic balance (hlb) of fluorocarbon surfactants and its relation to the critical micelle concentration (cmc), J. Phys. Chem., 1972, 76, 2019 I.J. Lin, J.P. Friend and Y. Zimmels, The effect of structural modifications on the hydrophilic-lipophilic balance of ionic surfactants, J. Colloid Interface Sci., 1973,45,378. 

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