Cyclodextrins Increase Surface Tension and Critical Micelle Concentrations of Detergent Solutions

Because they function as solubility enhancers! Cyclodextrins envelop the hydrophobic part of the detergent molecule in their cavity and thus destroy the formation of micelles as well as of monolayers at the air/water interface. The former increases the critical micelle concentration, the latter the surface tension. The effect is most pronounced when the cyclodextrin cavity and hydrophobic part of the detergent molecule exhibit the tightest fit. Cyclodextrins are thus suitable, inter alia, as antifoaming agents.