The methods of determination of critical micellar concentrations of the amphiphilic systems in aqueous medium

Science is the attempt to make the chaotic diversity of our sense-experience to a logically unified system of thought. A sound theoretical basis and a rational physicochemical understanding based on experimental findings lead to a proper understanding of a topic. Colloid chemistry strengthened its footing by the extensive studies on gold sols by Michael Faraday in 1850s, however, the term “colloid” was coined by Thomas Graham in 1861. Historically, the Stone Age paintings in the Lascaux cave in France and the written records of Egyptian pharaohs were produced with stabilized colloid pigments. The part of colloid science dealing with amphiphilic molecules is so diverse on its own that it is dealt in a separate branch called the “association colloid”. A key development in the study of association colloids was the observation by James McBain that the osmotic pressure of salts of alkali metal fatty acid displayed a pronounced break in the concentration beyond a specific characteristic concentration, after which the osmotic coefficient remained almost constant (Evans and Wennerstrom, 1994). McBain attributed this fact to the self-association of these molecules among themselves (McBain, 1913 and McBain, 1944) in solution. Here, we are providing a molecular as well as thermodynamic approach toward the micellization process.