Partitioning of o/p-Nitrophenols in the Presence of Hydrotropes in Aqueous Solutions

Abstract

Partitioning of o/p-nitrophenols between organic solvents and water in the presence of hydrotropes such as sodium toluene sulfonate, sodium xylene sulfonate, and sodium cumene sulfonate, has been experimentally investigated and modelled in terms of co-aggregation of the hydrotrope and nitrophenols in aqueous solutions. The phenol-hydrotrope and hydrotrope-hydrotrope interactions are characterized by an aggregation model. The experimental data for a series of hydrotropes are further used to predict the partitioning behavior of p-nitrophenol in the presence of sodium butyl benzene sulfonate (Na-NBBS). The aggregation number of NaNBBS, (∼30) obtained from the partitioning data, matches well with that obtained by small angle neutron scattering.

Keywords:

• Aggregation
• alkylbenzene sulfonates
• hydrotrope
• nitrophenol
• partition coefficient
• selectivity