An electronic spectroscopic study of micellisation of surfactants and solvation of homomicelles formed by cationic or anionic surfactants using a solvatochromic electron donor acceptor dye.

Solvatochromic absorption and fluorescence bands of a donor-acceptor dye have been utilised for following the micellisation and for probing the polarity of the aqueous homomicellar phase provided separately by cationic (cetyltrimethylammonimum bromide, CTAB and dodecyltrimethylammonimum bromide, DTAB) and anionic (sodium dodecyl sulphate, SDS) surfactant. Results indicate that for a low concentration of surfactant (below cmc) the dye forms a dimer in aqueous solution. In a micellar media, however, the dye exists as monomers. A strong dye-micelle interaction, as indicated by the shift of the solvatochromic intramolecular charge transfer band of the dye, has also been indicated. The absorption and fluorescence parameters of the dye have been utilised for studying the onset of aggregation of the surfactants. An iterative procedure has been developed for the estimation of cmc and the distribution coefficient (KD) of the dye between the aqueous and the micellar phase. All the parameters provide convergent values of cmc. A high value of KD indicates that the dye exists predominantly in the micellar phase. The solvatochromic parameters characterising the dipolarity-polarisability (π(*)) and H-bond donation ability (α) of modes of solvation interaction in different micellar media have been estimated. The dye is found to distribute itself between two regions in a catanionic vesicle formed by surfactants SDS and DTAB, one being relatively polar than other. The distribution coefficients have been found out using the fluorescence data.