Effect of the Counterion on Thermodynamic Properties of Aqueous Micellar Solutions of 1-(3,3,4,4,5,5,6,6,6-Nonafluorohexyl) Pyridinium Halides

We report a thermodynamic study of the aqueous solutions of 1-(3,3,4,4,5,5,6,6,6-nonafluorohexyl) pyridinium chloride, bromide, and iodide and N-octyl pyridinium iodide. Dilution enthalpies and osmotic coefficients of the aqueous solutions of these cationic surfactants have been measured at 313 K as a function of the concentration. The experimental data are expressed in terms of apparent and partial molar quantities. The changes in thermodynamic properties upon micellization have been obtained from the experimental data by using a pseudo phase transition approach. The cmc at 313 K have been evaluated from the plot of the milliosmolality, the measured quantity, vs molality. From the comparison with the trends of the enthalpies at 298 K of the same set of compounds, the effect of temperature on the energetics of their solutions can be derived. The trends of thermodynamic properties vs molality and the micellization parameters confirm that the effect of the counterions, however strong and inversely proportional to the radius of the hydrated counterion, seems to be reduced with respect to the hydrogenated analogs. The curves of the apparent and partial molar enthalpies vs m for the bromide and the iodide are lowered, with respect to the curve of the chloride, by an amount comparable to that at 298 K. This observation suggests that the changes in the absolute trends of the curves and in the micellization enthalpies are due to the modification of the more mobile hydrophobic hydration shell of the perfluoroalkyl chain, whereas the hydration sphere of the counterions is practically unaffected. The heat capacity data and the comparison with the behaviour of hydrogenated analogs is in agreement with the above observation. The trends of the free energies confirm that the degree of counterion binding, beta, and the aggregation number, n, increase with the increasing of the radius of the hydrated counterion.