Studies on Surfactant-Additive Systems

Nowadays considerable research has been carried out on a new type of surfactants called as gemini surfactants, using variety of experimental methods. By far the most studied of gemini surfactants are cationic gemini, m-s-m (N, N¿-bis(alkyldimethyl)-¿, ¿-alkanediammonium dibromide type) type surfactant. In particular, the choice of cationic gemini surfactants was made in an effort because of the low toxicity of quaternary ammonium surfactants as well as low critical micelle concentration. In addition to low toxicity, quaternary ammonium surfactants exhibit broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity including antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral. Gemini surfactants may be an appropriate alternative to traditional quaternary ammonium compounds. The geminis used in the present studies, though extensively studied, still lack a quantitative interpretation of their mixed micellar behaviour with the conventional surfactants. Therefore, a thorough investigation and relative comparison among the mixed micellar properties with the conventional surfactants would allow their appropriate applications to achieve both fundamental as well as applied goals.