CHEM Semineri: “Quantifying the Influence of Salts on Nonionic Surfactant Micelle Formation and Chemical Potentials”, Prof. Dor Ben-Amotz, 17.30 23 Mart (EN)

You are cordially invited to attend the seminar organized by the Department of Chemistry.

Title : Quantifying the Influence of Salts on Nonionic Surfactant Micelle Formation and Chemical Potentials
Speaker: Prof. Dor Ben-Amotz, Department of Chemistry, Purdue University
Date : March 23th, 2021, Tuesday
Time : 17:30

This is an online seminar. To request the event link, please send a message to the department.

Abstract :
Salt-induced changes in the critical micelle concentration of 1,2-hexanediol are investigated by combining Raman multivariate curve resolution spectroscopy with a generalized theoretical analysis strategy. Anions on opposite ends of the Hofmeister series (SO42- and SCN–) are found to shift the micelle concentration in the same direction. The combined spectroscopic and theoretical analysis traces these observations to the greater anion affinity for (or weaker expulsion from) the hydration shell of the micelle than the free surfactant monomer, while the opposite is true for other anions and cations. This probe-free experimental and theoretical analysis strategy is more broadly applicable to other micelle formation, aggregation and binding processes.
But what makes them tick? Who does the catalysis, and who is dragged along?
In this talk I will present unpublished and recently published results, describing our quest to understand the source of activity in these fascinating materials.

Bio :
Dor Ben-Amotz was born in 1954 in Jerusalem, Israel, grew up in Berkeley, California, obtained a BA from Bennington College, a PhD from the UC Berkeley with Charles B. Harris, and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Exxon Corporate Research Lab with Dudley R. Herschbach of Harvard University. He joined the chemistry faculty at Purdue University in 1989 where he and his research group (and numerous collaborators) performed experimental and theoretical studies of liquid state chemistry and hyperspectral chemical imaging. Over the past decade much of his research has focused on water-mediated interactions, investigated using Raman multivariate curve resolution spectroscopy, computer simulations, and statistical thermodynamics. He has written a physical chemistry textbook entitled Understanding Physical Chemistry and is currently teaching a graduate course entitled Scientific Writing and Critical Thinking.