The UV Spectroscopic Determination of Two Critical Micelle Concentrations of Domiphen Bromide in Solutions with KBr and Calculations of the Packing Parameter

Three different forms of the surface-active domiphen cations were detected by the UV spectroscopy in aqueous solutions of domiphen bromide, eventually with KBr additive. In sufficiently dilute solutions there are free domiphen cations, which aggregate into two types of micelles at two distinct concentrations, interpreted as the first and second critical micelle concentration, cmc and cmc₂. From the logarithmic dependences of cmc and cmc₂ on the bromide concentrations the corresponding degrees of counterion binding were estimated. Conformation analysis of the domiphen cation was performed and the packing parameters of the lowest energy conformers were calculated. The observed spectral shifts and the calculated packing parameters suggest that two conformers of domiphen cation with different arrangement of the phenoxyethyl group are responsible for the respective formation of two types of micelles.