We propose a simple method of characterizing the (Lewis) acid-base behavior of oil-soluble non-ionic surfactants at the interface of nonpolar solvents with a polar phase. Using interfacial tensiometry, we probe the effective acidic and basic response of nonpolar surfactant solutions to contact with a variety of polar reference liquids. The measured interfacial tensions are used as experimental coefficients in a set of equations borrowed from the thermodynamic "surface energy component model" of van Oss, Chaudhury, and Good (vOCG), but used here in a more heuristic fashion and with a revised interpretation of the parameters extracted to describe the dispersive, acidic, and basic character of the sample. We test the proposed characterization method using alkane solutions of purified polyisobutylene succinimide (PIBS) surfactants with systematic structural variations, and observe that the inferred parameter values are consistent with, and sensitive to, subtle differences in the surfactant chemistry. This suggests the possibility to compare different surfactant solutions semi-quantitatively with regard to their acidic and basic character. In a further illustration of the proposed analysis, we characterize a solution of commercial PIBS surfactant in hexane, and find that the parameters obtained by the proposed method correctly predict the solution interfacial tension with a polar liquid not included among the chosen reference liquids.
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