Kinetic and spectroscopic investigations of aqueous micelles of cationic surfactants

The aqueous micellar solutions of monocationic surfactants N-hexadecyl-N,N,N-trimethylammonium bromide (CTABr), N-hexadecyl-N,N,N-trimethylammonium nitrate (CTANO3), N,N,N-tributyl-N-hexadecylammonium bromide (CTBABr) and gemini surfactants 1,4-bis(N-hexadecyl-N,N-dimethylammonium)ethane dibromide (C-E-C2Br), 1,4-bis(N-hexadecyl-N,N-dimethylammonium)propane dibromide (C-P-C2Br), and 1,4-bis(N-hexadecyl-N,N-dimethylammonium)butane dibromide (C-B-C2Br) were studied with a solvatochromic probe, 2,6-diphenyl-4-(2,4,6-triphenylpyridinium-1-yl)phenolate, better known as Reichard’s ET-30 dye. The local polarity at the probe site (ET) was calculated from the wavelength maximum of the lowest-energy intramolecular charge-transfer pi-pi* absorption band of ET-30. The results were compared with a kinetic investigation of the cyclization of 2-(3-bromopropyloxy)phenoxide (PhBr7) in micelles; this reaction is a model for SN2 reactions and it depends on medium polarity.