Abstract
Solubilization of caffeic acid into the aqueous solution of cationic cetyltrimethlyammo-nium bromide (CTAB) has been studied by using differential spectroscopic and conductivity meth-ods. The solubility of caffeic acid increases with increasing the CTAB concentrations. The solubilization constant of caffeic acid into CTAB (KX = 1.8 x 105), standard free energy (DG0P =-30.0 kJ/mol), and relative solubility (St/S0 = 53.5) were estimated at room temperature from UV-visible data. The critical micellar concentration (CMC) of CTAB decreases linearly with caffeic acid concentration due to the presence of hydrophobic benzene moiety. The interaction of caffeic acid with CTAB has also been discussed. The solubilized caffeic acid was used as a reducing agent for the preparation of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). The as-prepared AgNPs were used as an acti-vator of persulphate. The generated reactive oxygen species (OH') and reactive sulphur species SO4-?) were responsible for the degradation of xylenol orange dye in water. (c) 2022 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University.