Micellar catalysis of organic reactions. Part 35. Kinetic determination of the critical micelle concentration of cationic micelles in the presence of additives

The critical micelle concentration of solutions of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide and of tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromides were determined by a kinetic method. This involved the determination of the rates of the hydroxydehalogenation of some activated aromatic substrates over a wide range of detergent concentrations. Measurements were made in solutions containing significant quantities of added hydroxyl ion and substrates which were themselves amphiphilic. Conventional methods cannot be applied with confidence to such systems. The effects of changing hydroxyl ion concentrations, added sodium bromide, changing the nature of the aromatic substrate (whether neutral or charged), the identity of the micellar counterion and the temperature were investigated. It was wound that added bromide or hydroxyl ions resulted in a lower CMC whereas increased temperature led to an increase in the CMC. The nature of the micellar counterion (Br, F, OH, SO4) had little effect on the CMC. The presence of a charged aromatic substrate led to a considerable lowering of the CMC, whereas the neutral aromatic substrate used showed very little effect.