Surface tension and supersaturation

Purpose The CheqSol solubility technique was used to measure kinetic and intrinsic solubility and identify compounds that cannot form supersaturated solutions, i.e., they immediately precipitate to the maximum extent allowed as soon as their solubility limit is exceeded. Surface tension measurements showed that most of these compounds were surface active substances with low polar surface area and a localized region of charge when they are ionized. These properties lead to ordered structures in solution which are thermodynamically stable over a wide range of conditions. The purpose of this work was to establish a link between supersaturation and surface activity.