Application of the Ferguson principle to the antibacterial activity of mono- and multi-component solutions of quaternary ammonium surface-active agents

Abstract

Critical micelle concentrations (cmc) have been measured by the surface tension method for binary mixtures of dodecyltrimethyl-ammonium bromide with tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide, binary mixtures of C14/C16 homologues, a ternary mixture of the C12/C14/C16 compounds and additionally for each component individually. The antibacterial activities of the systems against Escherichia coli were determined by a British Standard Method (B.S. 3286: 1960). Thermodynamic activities of the solutions at two survivor levels, calculated from the physical and biological measurements, were sufficiently constant to sustain the Ferguson principle for these micelle-forming antibacterial agents. A theoretical treatment of micelle formation for multi-component solutions of surfactants gave cmc’s by calculation in close agreement with the experimentally determined values. The purity and composition of the surfactants was determined by gas liquid chromatography.