Self-Assembly Behavior of Benzotriazole in Water

Abstract

The self-assembly behavior of ¹H-benzotriazole (BTA) in aqueous solutions below its solubility limit has been revealed for the first time using NMR and light scattering techniques. Relaxation time, diffusion and chemical shift NMR techniques in addition to various light scattering techniques were used to study the aqueous behavior of ¹H-Benzotriazole (BTA). These studies have revealed the self assembly of BTA molecules in water. Results show that BTA molecules tend to aggregate in water to form nanoparticles with radius in the range of 5 nm. The critical aggregation concentration (CAC) is estimated based on NMR data to be ∼16–20 mM. Such a critical aggregation concentration is comparable with the typical critical micelle concentration (CMC) for surfactants that have moderate aqueous solubility. The self-assembly behavior of BTA may not be limited to benzotriazole. It might be generally true for all poorly water soluble species to aggregate at concentrations below their solubility.

Keywords:

• ¹H-benzotriazole
• ¹H-NMR
• aggregation
• BTA
• CMC
• light scattering
• self-assembly