ABSTRACT
Gas solubilization is a term used here to describe the enhanced solubility of gases and low molecular weight vapors associated with the presence of micellar aggregates in aqueous solutions. This article (i) reviews the literature associated with this phenomenon, spanning a period of time from 1940 to the present, and (ii) shows that a simple model of a micelle which incorporates a Laplace pressure acting across the micelle-water interface is able to quantitatively account for the variations observed in the sorptive capacity of micelles derived from ionic surfactants. The limited data available for gases and vapors solubilized in aqueous solutions of nonionic surfactants suggest that Laplace pressure effects are much less important in the case of nonionic-type micelles.
