Hydrophilic alcohol ethoxylates as efficiency boosters for microemulsions

Highly amphiphilic polyalkane-PEO diblock copolymers drastically increase the solubilization capacity of surfactants in microemulsions if they are used in small quantities as additive to the surfactant. This effect goes along with an additional reduction of the already very low interfacial tension between water and oil. Lamellar phases, which usually develop when the surfactant becomes more efficient, are suppressed to a large extent. In this work we use another type of additive, namely hydrophilic alcohol ethoxylates. These amphiphiles are identical with the previously used block copolymers with respect to the hydrophilic moiety. However, they contain only small hydrocarbon groups ranging from C8 to C18. A typical example from the hydrophilic alcohol ethoxylates is C12E100. Both additive types increase surfactant efficiency equally with respect to mass fraction in the mixture. Because the alcohol ethoxylate additives decorate the surfactant film only on the aqueous side, they influence the curvature of the surfactant membrane or, in other words, the temperature behavior of the microemulsion. Together with nonionic surfactants, however, the shift of the one-phase region to higher temperatures is only a few degrees Celsius. Just as with the polyalkane-PEO block copolymers, the hydrophilic alcohol ethoxylates suppress lamellar phases. This behavior is especially pronounced if the hydrophobic groups are small or the PEO chains are long. We found that hydrophobic units as short as C 8 are sufficient to largely anchor the PEO chains at the interface. If C12 or C18 hydrocarbon unit are used instead, the PEO chains are fully interfacially active, even if the hydrophilic chain contains up to about 500 EO units. We applied the new additives in bicontinuous and in droplet microemulsions and used nonionic, as well as ionic, surfactants, namely C10E4 and AOT. In contrast to polyalkane-PEO blockcopolymers the new additives are easy to synthesize and are commercially available. Therefore, they might be interesting in applications.     

PHASE BEHAVIOR OF BRANCHED TAIL ETHOXYLATED CARBOXYLATE SURFACTANT/ELECTROLYTE/ALKANE SYSTEMS.

This paper describes the effect of pH on phase behavior of branched tail EO carboxylate surfactants in electrolyte/ alkane microemulsion system3 which are of possible pertinence to enhanced oil recovery. The pH of the aqueous surfactant solutions was found to have a considerable effect on the salinity requirement for middle phase microemulsion formation. At 70 and 60°C alcohol-free optimal three phase microemulsion systems are formed with all alkanes studied over the entire pH range of 6-12. At lower temperatures and. higher pH values, liquid crystals were found to form in systems which contained lower molecular weight alkanes.     

The Effect of Fatty Alcohols and Valeric Acid on the Regions of Existence of a Three-Phase System Containing Water, Oil, and Surfactant

For different water–oil–surfactant systems with added aliphatic alcohols and valeric acid, conditions for the formation of the microemulsion (third) phase containing approximately equal amounts of oil and water were determined. It was established that the microemulsion phases are formed in the initial two-phase system (oil-in-water microemulsion–oil) on adding alcohols or the acid, which can be more hydrophilic or more hydrophobic than micelle-forming surfactants. Concentrations of alcohols necessary for the transformation of the three-phase system into the two-phase one were determined. The influence of energy parameters of surfactants and structural characteristics of the alcohol and basic micelle-forming surfactant on the stability of the three-phase system is discussed.     

Polymerization of Cationic Surfactant Films in Microemulsions

Properties of microemulsion phases containing mixtures of polymerizable surfactants, single-chain 11-(methacryloyloxy)undecyltrimethylammonium bromide, and double-chain dodecyl-(11-(methacryloyloxy)undecyl)trimethylammonium bromide, and their acrylate analogues have been studied. SANS has shown how film composition, in terms of single-chain surfmer, can be used as a control variable to optimize phase behavior and physicochemical properties of these multi-component systems. A direct comparison between methacrylate and acrylate systems has shown how surfactant molecular structure can influence microemulsion structure; with methacrylates spherical droplets are formed, whereas with the acrylate analogues there is a transition to cylinders. Free-radical polymerization yield partially encapsulated aqueous domains with retention of parent structure.     

Small-angle neutron scattering study of particle coalescence and SDS desorption during film formation from carboxylated acrylic latices

Four monodisperse core-shell latices were synthesized for small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) studies, differing by the acrylic acid content in the particle shell (1 or 4 wt%) and the T(g) of the acrylic core (around -40 or 10 degrees C). In a first part, the coalescence kinetics of the surfactant-free latices were studied. It was shown that coalescence was hindered by an increase in the acrylic acid content of the shell, pH of the latex, and Tg of the core. These results could be interpreted in terms of chain mobility in the shell and in the core. Upon coalescence, the hydrophilic phase was segregated in spherical, polydisperse domains with an average diameter of 110 nm. In a second part, labeled SDS was used to follow desorption of the surfactant during film formation. It was shown that desorption occurred early in the film formation process when the latex still contained around 20% of water. A small fraction of the surfactant remained irreversibly adsorbed at the particle surface.     

What is so special about aerosol-OT? Part IV. Phenyl-tipped surfactants

Properties are reported for new phenyl-tipped anionic surfactants, which are aromatic chain relatives of the normal aliphatic aerosol-OT (AOT, sodium bis(2-ethyl-1-hexyl)sulfosuccinate). Variations in chain length and branching with these aromatic surfactants have important effects on aqueous and water-in-oil (w/o) microemulsion phase properties. In dilute aqueous systems, chain structure affects the cmc and surface tension behavior: compared to linear chain analogues, the branched-chain surfactants display lower surface tensions but also reduced packing as measured by molecular area at the cmc a(cmc). Owing to the phenyl-tipped structure, water-in-oil microemulsions were stabilized with aromatic toluene as an oil but not with aliphatic heptane; the latter is commonly used with normal AOT. Contrast variation small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) was used to characterize the microemulsion aggregates and adsorbed films. These SANS data show that water-in-toluene microemulsions stabilized by aromatic-AOTs contain mildly polydisperse spherical nanodroplets of similar structure to those found in systems containing normal AOT. Molecular areas at the air-water and toluene-water interfaces are found to be of similar magnitude and follow a trend that correlates with variations in surfactant chain structure. The new results with aromatic surfactants build on extensive studies of aliphatic AOT analogues (Nave, S.; Eastoe, J.; Penfold, J. Langmuir 2000, 16, 8733. Nave, S.; Eastoe, J.; Heenan, R. K.; Steytler, D.; Grillo, I. Langmuir 2002, 16, 8741. Nave, S.; Eastoe, J.; Heenan, R. K.; Steytler, D.; Grillo, I. 2002, 18, 1505), suggesting that the versatility of normal AOT originates from an optimized head and chain spacer group rather than from any specific effects of the 2-ethyhexyl chain structure.     

Sucrose ester-based biocompatible microemulsions as vehicles for aceclofenac as a model drug: formulation approach using D-optimal mixture design

We assessed the functionality of sucrose esters (sucrose laurate, myristate, palmitate, and stearate), relatively innocuous nonionic surfactants, in formulation of biocompatible microemulsions. The putative influence of surfactant structure on the extension of microemulsion region was explored through the construction of the pseudo-ternary phase diagrams for the isopropyl myristate/sucrose ester-isopropyl alcohol/water system, using the titration method and mixture experimental approach. Minor changes in surfactant tail length strongly affected the microemulsion area boundaries. D-optimal mixture design proved to be highly applicable in detecting the microemulsion regions. Examination of conductivity, rheology, and thermal behavior of the selected sucrose laurate and sucrose myristate-based microemulsions, upon dilution with water, indicated existence of percolation threshold and suggested the phase inversion from water-in-oil to oil-in-water via a bicontinuous structure. Atomic force micrographs confirmed the suggested type of microemulsions and were valuable in further exploring their inner structure. The solubilization capacity of aceclofenac as a model drug has decreased as the water volume fraction in microemulsion increased. High surfactant concentration and the measured solubility of aceclofenac in microemulsion components suggested that the interfacial film may mostly contribute to aceclofenac solubilization.     

Phase behavior, topology, and growth of neutral catanionic reverse micelles

The ternary catanionic system octylammoniumoctanoate/octane/water is studied by combined SANS, light scattering, conductivity, and phase diagram approach in the water-poor microemulsion region. The sphere-to-cylinder growth and branching depends on the concentration, the water-to-surfactant ratio, and the temperature. The unidimensional growth leads to a network of interconnected wormlike micelles. Like most studied linear nonionic surfactants, in this true catanionic system at equimolarity of anionic and cationic surfactant, the curvature toward water increases with temperature, making connections between cylinders less frequent.     

Ringing gels: Their structure and macroscopic properties

The phase diagram of the ternary surfactant system which consists of dimethyltetradecylaminoxide, hydrocarbon, and water contains a highly elastic gel phase which borders on the micellarL ₁-phase. This gel phase is transparent, optically isotropic, and shows the ringing phenomena when it is excited to mechanical vibrations. From SANS and light-scattering measurements it is shown that this phase consists of the same spherical microemulsion droplets which are present in the adjacent micellar solution. Even in the micellar solution the droplets are fairly monodisperse and in the SANS scattering functions a second scattering maximum was observed. Both the light scattering and SANS data can be described quantitatively on the basis of hard sphere interactions between the particles. Furthermore, it is shown that elasticity and shear modulus of the gel phase, which were determined experimentally, correlate with the compressibility modulus as calculated from the scattering data. The elasticity modulus and hence the osmotic compressibility modulus are related to the Laplace pressure inside the globules. For the calculation of this pressure it is possible to take the interfacial tension, which is obtained from a dilute micellar solution against the hydrocarbon which is used for the system. The radius of the particles and the hydrocarbon content in the system can be increased when some of the dimethyltetradecylaminoxide is replaced by dimethyltetradecylphosphinoxide.     

Tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide water-in-oil microemulsions: dependence of the minimum amount of alkanol required to produce a microemulsion with the alkanol and organic solvent topology

The amount of alcohol required to produce a microemulsion in a quaternary water-in-oil system was evaluated for a series of alcohols and hydrocarbon solvents of different size or topology. It was observed that the amount of n-hexanol and n-decanol required was similar in all the solvents considered. On the other hand, considerably higher concentrations of the branched alcohols (2,4-dimethyl-3-pentanol and 3-ethyl-3-pentanol) were required to produce the microemulsion, irrespective of the solvent topology (n-hexane or 2,2,4-trimethylpentane). From an analysis of the change in the analytical alcohol concentration with the surfactant concentration the amounts of alcohol present at the microaggregates' surface at the point of microemulsion formation were obtained. It is concluded that the high amounts of branched alcohols required are due to both less efficient incorporation at the interface and the larger number of alcohol molecules per surfactant required to stabilize the microemulsion.     

A nucleophilic substitution reaction performed in different types of self-assembly structures

A nucleophilic substitution reaction between 4-tert-butylbenzyl bromide and potassium iodide has been performed in oil-in-water microemulsions based on various C12Em surfactants, i.e., dodecyl ethoxylate with m number of oxyethylene units. The reaction kinetics was compared with the kinetics of reactions performed in other self-assembly structures based on very similar surfactants and in homogeneous liquids. The reaction was fastest in the micellar system, intermediate in rate in the microemulsions, and most sluggish in the liquid crystalline phase. Reaction in a Winsor I system, i.e., a two-phase system comprising an oil-in-water microemulsion in equilibrium with excess oil, was equally fast as reaction in a one-phase microemulsion. The reactions in microemulsion were surprisingly fast compared to reaction in homogeneous, protic liquids such as methanol and ethanol. The rate was independent of the microstructure of the microemulsion; however, the rate was very dependent on the type of surfactant used. When the C12Em surfactant was replaced by a sugar-based surfactant, octyl glucoside, the reaction was much more sluggish. The high reactivity in microemulsions based on C12Em surfactants is belived to be due to a favorable microenvironment in the reaction zone. The reaction is likely to occur within the surfactant palisade layer, where the water activity is relatively low and where the attacking species, the iodide ion, is poorly hydrated and, hence, more nucleophlic than in a protic solvent such as water or methanol. Sugar surfactants become more hydrated than alcohol ethoxylates and the lower reactivity in the microemulsion based on the sugar surfactant is probably due to a higher water activity in the reaction zone.     

New phosphate fluorosurfactants for carbon dioxide

Anionic phosphate fluorosurfactants were shown to self-assemble into water-in-carbon dioxide microemulsions. The surfactants, having either two fluorinated chains or one fluorinated chain and one hydrocarbon chain, facilitated significant water uptake in CO2. Small angle neutron scattering (SANS) measurements of surfactant/water/CO2 solutions confirmed the presence of nanometer-scale aggregates, indicative of microemulsion formation.     

Novel highly fluorinated sulfamates: synthesis and evaluation of their surfactant properties

Two synthetic pathways have been elaborated to prepare new series of highly fluorinated sulfamates with excellent yields. Surface tension measurements at the air/water interface showed that these compounds constitute new excellent non-ionic surfactants exhibiting high surface activity in the range of the best non-ionic fluoro surfactants already described in the literature. The most important feature of this work is that, in comparison with the classical non-ionic fluoro surfactants, these sulfamates are easily synthesized in a monodisperse form from classical and relatively non-toxic starting materials. The critical micelle concentration (CMC), the maximum surface excess concentration (Γ) and the minimum area per molecule (a) have been calculated from the surface tension measurements on surfactant aqueous solutions. Relationships have been established between the length of both the fluorinated tail and hydrocarbon spacer linking the hydrophobic tail to the hydrophilic head, and the interfacial properties.     

Probing the microstructure of nonionic microemulsions with ethyl oleate by viscosity, ROESY, DLS, SANS, and cyclic voltammetry

Microemulsions are important formulations in cosmetics and pharmaceutics and one peculiarity lies in the so-called "phase inversion" that takes place at a given water-to-oil concentration ratio and where the average curvature of the surfactant film is zero. In that context, we investigated the structural transitions occurring in Brij 96-based microemulsions with the cosmetic oil ethyl oleate and studied the influence of the short chain alcohol butanol on their structure and properties as a function of water addition. The characterization has been carried out by means of transport properties, spectroscopy, DLS, SANS, and electrochemical methods. The results confirm that the nonionic Brij 96 in combination with butanol as cosurfactant forms a U-type microemulsion that upon addition of water undergoes a continuous transition from swollen reverse micelles to oil-in-water (O/W) microemulsion via a bicontinuous region. After determining the structural transition through viscosity and surface tension, the 2D-ROESY studies give an insight into the microstructure, i.e., the oil component ethyl oleate mainly is located at the hydrophobic tails of surfactant while butanol molecules reside preferentially in the interface. SANS experiments show a continuous increase of the size of the structural units with increasing water content. The DLS results are more complex and show the presence of two relaxation modes in these microemulsions for low water content and a single diffusive mode only for the O/W microemulsion droplets. The fast relaxation reflects the size of the structural units while the slower one is attributed to the formation of a network of percolated microemulsion aggregates. Electrochemical studies using ferrocene have been carried out and successfully elucidated the structural transformations with the help of diffusion coefficients. An unusual behavior of ferrocene has been observed in the present microheterogeneous medium, giving a deeper insight into ferrocene electrochemistry. NMR-ROESY experiments give information regarding the internal organization of the microemulsion droplets. In general, one finds a continuous structural transition from a W/O over a bicontinuous to an O/W microemulsion, however with a peculiar network formation over an extended concentration range, which is attributed to the somewhat amphiphilic oil ethyl oleate. The detailed knowledge of the structural behavior of this type of system might be important for their future applications.     

Application of Polyglycerol Diisostearate Ethoxylates in Microemulsion

Effect of surfactants [polyglycerol diisostearate ethoxylates (PGDIS-E31, PGDIS-E36 and PGDIS-E40) and Tween-80], alcohols (1,2-propandiol, ethanol, 1-propanol, 1-butanol, 2-butanol and 1-pentanol), oils [isopropyl palmitate (IPP), isooctyl palmitate (IOP), dioctyl carbonate (DOC), and dioctyl hexanediate (DOH)], temperature and sodium chloride on the microemulsion formation of the surfactant/alcohol/oil/water system has been investigated by the pseudo-ternary phase diagrams. The capacities of the four surfactants in the microemulsion formation of the surfactant/alcohol/IPP/water system at surfactant/alcohol of 2:1 are in the order of PGDIS-E31 > PGDIS-E36 > Tween-80 > PGDIS-E40, whatever alcohol (ethanol, 1-propanol, and 1-butanol) is used. PGDIS-E31 and 1-butanol exhibit best synergism in the microemulsion formation. In addition, the volume, structure and polarity of oil all influence the microemulsion formation. At the optimum weight ratio 2:1 of PGDIS-E31/1-butanol, the microemulsion region of the PGDIS-E31/1-butanol/IPP/water system is the largest among the studied systems. The microemulsion system of PGDIS-E31/1-butanol/IPP/water is not sensitive to lower temperature such as 40°C. It is also not sensitive to sodium chloride when the concentration of sodium chloride is in the range of 0 to 1.0%.     

Fluorinated ionic surfactant microemulsions in hydrofluorocarbon 134a (HFC 134a)

The factors influencing the formation of water-in-134a-propellant microemulsions using the fluorinated ionic surfactants ammonium perfluorooctanoate, ammonium perfluoroheptanoate, and sodium perfluorooctanoate has been determined. None of the fluorinated ionic surfactants could be used to prepare clear, one-phase systems when used as sole surfactant, but they could be when combined with a short-chain fluoro- or hydrocarbon alcohol in surfactant:cosurfactant weight-mixing ratios (K(m)) in the range 1:2 to 2:1. When hydrocarbon alcohols were used this clear region extended over a wide range of compositions and was confirmed by means of photon correlation spectroscopy (PCS) to contain microemulsion droplets in the propellant-rich part of the phase diagram. PCS studies performed in the presence of the water-soluble drug terbutaline sulfate showed that it was possible to solubilize the drug within water-in-propellant microemulsion droplets. These studies confirm for the first time that it is possible to prepare water-in-propellant 134a microemulsions using fluorinated ionic surfactants and to solubilize water-soluble drugs within these systems.     

Formation of monodisperse charged vesicles in mixtures of cationic gemini surfactants and anionic SDS

The aggregation behavior of catanionics formed by the mixture of cationic geminis derived from dodecyltrimethylammonium chloride (DTAC) and anionic sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) was studied by means of phase studies and comprehensive small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) experiments at 25 °C and 50 mM overall concentration. The results are compared to those for the previously studied SDS + DTAC system. Various gemini spacers of different natures and geometries were used, but all of them had similar lengths: an ethoxy bridge, a double bond, and an aromatic ring binding the two DTACs in three different substitutions (ortho, meta, and para). SANS and SAXS data analysis indicates that the spacer has no large effect on the spheroidal micelles of pure surfactants formed at low concentration in water; however, specific effects appear with the addition of electrolytes. Microstructures formed in the catanionic mixtures are rather strongly dependent on the nature of the spacer. The most important finding is that for the hydrophilic, flexible ethoxy bridge, monodisperse vesicles with a fixed anionic/cationic charge ratio (depending only on the surfactant in excess) are formed. Furthermore, the composition of these vesicles shows that strongly charged aggregates are formed. This study therefore provides new opportunities for developing tailor-made gemini surfactants that allow for the fine tuning of catanionic structures.     

Branched non-ionic oligo-oxyethylene Y-amphiphiles Effect of molecular geometry on the micellar shape 1

A homologous series of branched, non-ionic surfactants with the general formula C_nG(E_mM)₂, where C_n denotes an alkyl chain, G = glycerol and E_mM = oligo-oxyethylene mono-methyl ether, has been prepared from alkyl bromides (n = 10-16) and several monodisperse 1,3-di(methoxyoligo-oxyethylene) ethers of glycerol (m = 3-5). The branched hydrophilic chain is introduced to modify the interfacial area compared to corresponding linear oligo-oxyethylene surfactants (I-amphiphiles) without essentially changing the hydrophilic-lipophilic balance. The phase behaviour of these Y-surfactants in aqueous solution reveals that according to established packing models the branched hydrophilic group strongly stabilizes the cubic and hexagonal mesophases, while a lamellar phase is not observed.     

Micellar structure in gemini nonionic surfactants from small-angle neutron scattering

The size and shape of micelles formed by dimeric polyoxyethylene (nonionic gemini) surfactants having the structure (Cn-2H2n-3CHCH2(OCH2CH2)mOH)2(CH2)6 with alkyl and ethoxy chain lengths ranging from n = 12-20 and m = 5-30 have been determined using small angle neutron scattering (SANS). The surfactants are polydisperse in the hydrophilic groups but otherwise analogous to the widely studied monomeric poly(oxyethylene) alkanols. We find that longer ethoxylated chains are needed to confer solubility on the gemini surfactants and that these chains in the hydrophilic corona around the alkyl core of the micelles are reasonably well described as a homogeneous random coil in a good solvent. Spherical micelles are formed by the surfactants with the longest ethoxylated chains. Shorter chains lead first to rods and ultimately a vesicle dispersion. These solutions exhibit conventional cloud point behavior, and on warming, a sphere to rod transition can be observed. For the n = 20 and m = 15 surfactant, this shape transition is accompanied by a striking increase in viscosity at low concentration and gelation at higher concentrations.     

Protection of nano-powders by adsorbed surfactants: A Monte Carlo study

The production of high-performance ceramics requires the protection of powder particles against chemical reactions. Hydrolysis and oxidation of nanoscaled non-oxidic powders can be impeded by a coating consisting of a dense adsorbed layer of amphiphilic molecules. Using Monte Carlo simulations for a coarse grained model the adsorption equilibrium of differently shaped amphiphiles in apolar and polar solvents is investigated. For estimating the protection capability of the adsorbed surfactant film in aqueous environment we study the diffusion of small hydrophilic particles through the adsorbed surfactant film. The surfactants considered as coating agents differ in the number of hydrocarbon tails. It is found that amphiphiles with a single hydrocarbon tail or at most two branches are more suitable to protect particle surfaces than amphiphiles with three or four branches, although the adsorption energy of amphiphiles with many branches is higher.