Micellization of a cationic and an anionic surfactant in the presence of diphenylcarbazide in aqueous media and the effect of micelle surface charge on the complexation of the solubilised ligand with metal ions

ABSTRACT In the present study, we carried out conductometric and surface tension analyses to report the critical micelle concentration (CMC) of tetradecyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (TTAB) and sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) as a function of the concentration of a diphenylcarbazide (DPC). It is found that the micellization of TTAB becomes unfavourable while that of SDS becomes favourable in the presence of DPC. This indicates a substantial difference in the mutual interaction of the sparingly soluble ligand with the cationic and the anionic surfactants. The complexation ability of the solubilised DPC with hydrated Zn(II) and Cd(II) ions at varying concentrations of the cationic and anionic surfactants was studied by UV–Vis spectral analyses. With increasing the concentration of both surfactants up to their respective CMC values, the absorbance of the metal–DPC complex increases. However, the absorbance of the complex in TTAB micelles sharply decreases, showing almost zero values beyond the CMC, but that in SDS remains almost steady with increasing the concentration of the surfactant, as evidenced from the visible spectra.