Micellar properties of tetradecyltrimethylammonium nitrate in aqueous solutions at various temperatures and in water-benzyl alcohol mixtures at 25 °C

The micellar properties of tetradecyltrimethylammonium nitrate (C14TANO₃) in aqueous solutions in the temperature range of 10 to 35 °C and in aqueous solutions of benzyl alcohol (BzOH) at 25 °C were studied conductometrically. The specific conductivity data served for the evaluation of critical micelle concentration, cmc, and the degree of ionization of the micelles, β, of the surfactant. From the temperature dependence of the cmc the thermodynamic parameters for micellization of C14TANO₃ were calculated by applying Muller′s modified equation. BzOH was found to affect strongly the cmc and β values of the surfactant. The plot of the cmc/cmc_o ratio (where cmc_o is for pure water) as a function of BzOH molality, exhibits a characteristic break, which was attributed to the commencement of self-association of BzOH in aqueous solution at a molality of ca. 0.05. By applying the theoretical treatment suggested by Motomura for binary surfactant systems, the molar fraction of BzOH in the micelles at cmc, was estimated as a function of molality of the alcohol. C14TANO₃ appears to be slightly more hydrophobic compared to the corresponding bromide.