Micelle temperature range shift

The micellization enthalpy was much greater than the CP enthalpy, demonstrating the dominance of the poly(propylene oxide)-water interactions. The strongly endothermic enthalpy indicates that the micellization is an entropy-driven process, since micellization is a spontaneous phenomenon. Although cooperative, the micellization process was rather long and spanned a temperature range of 10-20°C due to the temperature dependence of the amount of unimers in equilibrium with the micelles (as temperature increases, more copolymer molecules associate into micelles) [159,160] as well as to the size polydispersity inherent in copolymers. The CMT shifted to lower temperatures as the polymer concentration increased, but its width was not affected much. The CP increased with polymer concentration. 

In the temperature range 50-65 °C the shape of the chromatograms indicated the presence of both micelles and free chains. As the temperature was raised the equilibrium shifted progressively in favour of the unassociated chain form. 

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