Solubilization in The Presence of Surfactants
Solubilization in The Presence of Surfactants
Solubilization
Solubilization may be defined as the spontaneous dissolving of a substance (solid, liquid, or gas) by
reversible interaction with the micelles of a surfactant in a solvent to form a thermodynamically stable
isotropic solution with reduced thermodynamic activity of the solubilized material.
Solubilization is in term of
micellization and emulsification
Solubilization into aqueous media is of major practical importance in such areas as the formulation of
products containing water-insoluble ingredients
Purposes:
- Replace the use of organic solvents or cosolvents in
detergency, removal of oily soil; emulsion polymerization
…
SOLUBILIZATION IN AQUEOUS MEDIA
Locus of Solubilization
The exact location in the micelle at which solubilization occurs (i.e., the locus of solubilization) varies with the
nature of the material solubilized and is of importance in that it reflects the type of interaction occurring between
surfactant and solubilizate.
The solubilization capacity or solubilizing power: The number of moles of solubilizate per mole of micellized
surfactant
SW is the molar solubility of the solubilizate in the aqueous
system
(SW − SCMC) SCMC its molar solubility at the CMC
Solubilization capacity =
(Csurf − CMC) Csurf the molar concentration of the surfactant
• For hydrocarbon and long chain compounds, any • Crystalline solids generally show less solubility in
factor that causes an increase in either the diameter micelles than do liquids of similar structure
of the micelle or its aggregation number can be • Generally, the extent of solubilization appears to
expected to produce an increase in the solubilization decrease with increase in the chain length and to
capacity increase with unsaturation or cyclization
• Nonionic surfactants, because of their lower critical • Branched-chain compounds appear to have
micelle concentrations, are better solubilizing agents approximately the same solubility as their normal
than ionics in very dilute solutions. chain isomers.
• The order of solubilizing power: nonionics > cationics • For polar solubilizates, the situation is complicated
> anionics for surfactants with the same hydrophobic by the possibility of variation in the depth of
chain length penetration into the micelle as the structure of the
• For polar molecules: Almost no generalization of solubilizate is changed.
solubilization power since the solubilization can
occur on both outer and inner parts of micelles.
Factors Determining the Extent of Solubilization
4. Effect of Monomeric Organic Additives