The aim of this work was to investigate the influence of the incorporation of substituents at the end of the hydrophobic tail on the binding of cationic surfactants to alpha-, beta-, and gamma-cyclodextrins. The equilibrium binding constants of the 1:1 inclusion complexes formed follow the trend K-1(alpha-CD) > K-1(beta-CD) >> K-1(gamma-CD), which can be explained by considering the influence of the CD cavity volume on the host -guest interactions. From the comparison of the K-1 values obtained for dodecyltriethylammonium bromide, DTEAB, to those estimated for the surfactants with the substituents, it was found that the incorporation of a phenoxy group at the end of the hydrocarbon tail does not affect K-1, and the inclusion of a naphthoxy group has some influence on the association process, slightly diminishing K-1. This makes evident the importance of the contribution of hydrophobic interactions to the binding, the length of the hydrophobic chain being the key factor determining K-1. However, the presence of the aromatic rings does influence the location of the host and the guest in the inclusion complexes. The observed NOE interactions between the aromatic protons and the CD protons indicate that the aromatic rings are partially inserted within the host cavity, with the cyclodextrin remaining close to the aromatic rings, which could be partially intercalated in the host cavity. To the authors' knowledge this is the first study on the association of cyclodextrins with monomeric surfactants incorporating substituents at the end of the hydrophobic tail. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.