Krafft temperature is defined as the minimum temperature from which the
micelle formation takes place. It is named after German chemist
Friedrich Krafft. It has been found that solubility at the Krafft point is nearly equal to
critical micelle concentration (CMC). Below the Krafft temperature, the maximum solubility of the surfactant will be lower than the critical micelle concentration, meaning micelles will not form. The Krafft temperature is a point of phase change below which the
surfactant
Surfactants are chemical compounds that decrease the surface tension between two liquids, between a gas and a liquid, or interfacial tension between a liquid and a solid. Surfactants may act as detergents, wetting agents, emulsifiers, foaming ...
remains in crystalline form, even in an aqueous solution. Visually the effect of going below the Krafft point is similar to that of going above the
cloud point, with the solution becoming cloudy or opaque due to the surfactant molecules undergoing
flocculation.
Surfactants in such a crystalline state will only solubilize and form micelles if another surfactant assists it in overcoming the forces that keep it crystallized, or if the temperature increases, thus causing entropy to increase and encouraging the crystalline structure to break apart.
Structural effects
Surfactants are usually composed of a hydrocarbon chain and a polar head group.
Increasing the length of the hydrocarbon chain increases the Krafft temperature because it improves
Van der Waals forces.
Moreover, since Krafft point is related to solid-liquid transition, better-packed polar heads within surfactant crystals increase Krafft temperature.
[H.A. Van Doren, Tailor-made carbohydrate surfactants? Systematic investigations into structure-property relationships of N-Acyl N-Alkyl 1-Amino-1-Deoxy-D-Glucitols, Carbohydrates as Organic Raw Materials III, Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH, 2007, pp. 255-272.]
References
External links
IUPAC Gold book - Krafft temperature
Colloidal chemistry
Physical chemistry
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