Abstract
IT is well known that when two long-chain compounds, stereoisomeric with one another around a double bond, are adsorbed at a surface, they infiuence the tension there to extents which differ according the the effective chain length. Recent experiments by me have shown that although the thermal agitation of short-chain adsorbate molecules at a water – air interface prevents any appreciable fall in the surface tension of the solvent, orientation of many small molecules does occur at a water – oil interface. In many cases this is sufficiently marked to reveal interesting differences in interfacial activity between short-chain isomeric compounds, of classes not usually regarded as surface active. Further, these differences can be reproduced with an accuracy which enables such measurements to be used as a means of distinguishing between the isomers.
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References
Powney and Addison., Trans. Faraday Soc., 33, 1243, (1937); 34, 356 (1938).
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ADDISON, C. Interfacial Activity of Short-Chain Isomers. Nature 144, 783 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/144783a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/144783a0
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