ISSN 0036-0244, Russian Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 2020, Vol. 94, No. 9, pp. 1957–1958. © Pleiades Publishing, Ltd.

, 2020.
Russian Text © The Author(s), 2020, published in Zhurnal Fizicheskoi Khimii, 2020, Vol. 94, No. 9, pp. 1432–1433.

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Optical Activity of Triton X-100 Micelles in Aqueous Solutions

O. A. Fedyaevaa,* and E. G. Poshelyuzhnayaa
a Omsk State Technical University, Omsk, 644050 Russia
*e-mail: kosatine@mail.ru
Received December 24, 2019; revised February 17, 2020; accepted March 10, 2020

Abstract—Polarimetry is used to study the optical activity of colloidal aqueous solutions of nonionic surfac-
tant (NS) Triton X-100. It is found that these solutions rotate the plane of polarization to the right. It is shown
that a change in the concentration of nonionic surfactants alters the structure of micelles. It is found that the
transition to a continuous hexagonal mesophase is accompanied by a stepwise change in optical rotation.

Keywords: Triton X-100, micelles, optical rotation, optical activity

DOI: 10.1134/S0036024420090058

INTRODUCTION
It is known that colloidal surfactants in monomeric
form are achiral and have low molecular solubility.
Upon an increase in the concentration of their mole-
cules in solution, however, aggregative processes begin
to occur, leading to the formation of premicellar com-
plexes with chirality. The authors of [1, 2], who stud-
ied the optical rotation of aqueous solutions of colloi-
dal surfactants of various types (anionic sodium
dodecyl sulfate, cationic hexadecyltrimethylammo-
nium bromide and nonionic polyoxyethylene (4)
mono-n-dodecyl ether), thus found that in the con-
centration range near of the critical micelle concentra-
tion (CMC), the optical activity of these substances
passes through a maximum and then falls to some
almost constant level. In their opinion, the drop in
optical activity corresponds to the completion of the
formation of complete spherical micelles. At the same
time, the authors noted that the nonionic surfactant
they studied, dodecanoyl-N-methylglucamide, was
optically inactive, and all optically active surfactants
had positive (right) rotation of the plane of polariza-
tion.
In this work, we studied the optical activity of
micellar aqueous solutions of nonionic surfactant
Triton X-100. Solutions for analysis were prepared
from commercial Triton X-100 from Sigma-Aldrich
via serial dilution of 5.12 × 10−2 mol/L of solution
with deionized water obtained with an Vodoley unit.
Critical micelle concentrations (CMC1 and CMC2)
were determined conductometrically using a Multit-
est KSL device. At 22°C, they were 1.72 × 10−4 and
3.2 × 10−3 mol/L, respectively [3]. The angle of rota-
tion of the plane of polarization was measured using
an SM-3 circular polarimeter with an optical path of
1 dm and a light wavelength of λ = 589 nm. Polarime-
ter sensitivity was 0.04°, and the error in the range
from 0° up to ±35° was no more ±0.04°.
Figure 1 shows the dependence of the optical rota-
tion of solutions on the concentration of Triton X-100.
We can see that Biot’s law on the linear dependence of
the angle of rotation of the plane of polarization is not
obeyed for the given optically active substance. Like
the authors of [1, 2], we note an extreme change in the
optical activity of solutions in the CMC region. In our
case, the maximum optical rotation corresponds to a
concentration of nonionic surfactants equal to 4 ×
10−4 mol/L. An increase in optical activity testifies to
the emergence of chiral pre-micellar complexes. Their
concentration falls in proportion to the formation of
micelles and the optical rotation of the solutions slows.
At a concentration of nonionic surfactants of 3.2 ×
10−3 mol/L the solution becomes achiral. A further
increase in the concentration of nonionic surfactants
results in negligible optical activity of the solutions and
then to its sharp growth. At concentrations of (1.28–
5.12) × 10−2 mol/L, the optical activity changes grad-
ually as the concentration of nonionic surfactants
grows.
Analyzing our results, we may conclude that sharp
changes in the optical rotation of Triton X-100 solu-
tions as its concentration grows could be due to struc-
tural transformations of its micelles. Nematic colloidal
systems consisting of ellipsoidal micelles form at con-
centrations of nonionic surfactants slightly higher than
CMC1 [4]. Their inner part consists of interwoven
hydrocarbon radicals, while the outer part is formed
by hydrated polar groups. At the second critical con-
centration CMC2, the formation of complete micelles
ends and it is likely that a lyotropic hexagonal liquid
crystal mesophase begins to form [5]. At this point, the
solution is optically inactive. A further increase in the

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12

10
0.4
8
0.3

α, deg

α, deg
6 0.2

4 0.1

2 0.002 0.006
C, mol/L

0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05

C, mol/L

Fig. 1. Dependence of optical rotation on the concentration of Triton X-100 in solution at 22°C.

concentration of chiral liquid crystal associates is
accompanied by a slight rise in optical rotation.
Finally, the sharp increase in optical activity can be
attributed to the formation of a continuous lyotropic
hexagonal phase.
CONCLUSIONS
The nonionic surfactant we studied rotates the
plane of polarization of plane-polarized light to the
right. The optical activity of its solutions is due to the
emergence of chiral pre-micellar complexes, liquid
crystal associates, and lyotropic hexagonal meso-
phase. As for other colloidal solutions of surfactants
(anionic sodium dodecyl sulfate, cationic hexadecyl-
trimethylammonium bromide and nonionic poly-
oxyethylene (4) mono-n-dodecyl ether) studied ear-
lier, the optical activity of Triton X-100 solutions man-
ifests above the Krafft point and is characterized by a
pronounced maximum in the CMC1 region on the
concentration graph.
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Phys. Chem. A 93, 2559 (2019).
5. H. N. Ghos, A. V. Sapre, and K. V. S. Rama Rao,
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