Micelle formation by N-alkyl-N-methylpyrrolidinium bromide in aqueous solution.

The micellization of the ionic liquid N-alkyl-N-methylpyrrolidinium bromide (C(n)MPB, n = 12, 14 and 16) in aqueous solutions was investigated by surface tension measurements, electrical conductivity and static luminescence quenching. The effectiveness of the surface tension reduction (Π(cmc)), maximum surface excess concentration (Γ(max)) and the minimum area (A(min)) occupied per surfactant molecule at the air/water interface can be obtained from the surface tension measurements at 25 °C. The critical micelle concentration (cmc) at different temperatures and a series of thermodynamic parameters (ΔG, ΔH and ΔS) of micellization were evaluated from electrical conductivity measurements in the temperature range of 25-45 °C. The thermodynamic parameters show that the micelle formation is entropy-driven at low temperature and enthalpy-driven at high temperature. Furthermore, the micelle aggregation number (N(agg)) of C(n)MPB was calculated according to the Turro-Yekta method through static luminescence quenching and found that N(agg) (49, 55, and 59) increased with the hydrophobic chain length of C(n)MPB.