Rapid determination of surfactant critical micelle concentrations using pressure-driven flow with capillary electrophoresis instrumentation

This work demonstrates a novel, convenient utilization of capillary electrophoresis (CE) instrumentation for the determination of critical micelle concentrations (CMCs). Solution viscosity differences across a range of surfactant concentrations were monitored by hydrodynamically forcing an analyte towards the detector. Upon reaching the surfactant's CMC value, migration times were observed to change drastically. CMC values for four commonly employed anionic surfactants were determined—sodium dodecyl sulfate: 8.1 mM; sodium caprylate: 300 mM; sodium decanoate: 86 mM; sodium laurate: 30 mM; and found to be in excellent agreement with values previously reported in the literature. The technique was then applied to the less well-characterized nonionic surfactants poly(oxyethylene) 8 myristyl ether (CMC ∼ 9 M), poly(oxyethylene) 8 decyl ether (CMC ∼ 0.95 mM) and poly(oxyethylene) 4 lauryl ether.