Microemulsification of triglyceride sebum and the role of interfacial structure on bicontinuous phase behavior

A unique triblock surfactant is reported that allows for the efficient microemulsification of triglycerides. Unlike the results of all previous efforts, these triglyceride microemulsions can be formed without the use of cosurfactants or dilution with co-oils and follow the classical patterns of surfactant phase behavior exhibited by mixtures of water, alkane oils, and nonionic oligoethylene glycol surfactants, i.e., progression from oil/water emulsions to one-phase microemulsions to water/oil emulsions with increasing temperature. Lamellar phases that usually dominate the aqueous phase behavior of surfactant/triglyceride mixtures are suppressed, allowing for the formation of single-phase microemulsions containing equal amounts of triglyceride and water. These isotropic and low-viscous fluids are particularly useful for cleansing and delivery of functional ingredients in skin care products. The effects of mixing a variety of typical skin care ingredients and components of sebum (skin oil) were also explored. Fatty acids significantly reduce the average microemulsion temperature, while other ingredients and oils, which do not partition at the oil/water interface, have less impact on the phase behavior. In all cases, one-phase microemulsions containing equal amounts of oil and water can be formed even at high additive concentrations. Indeed, partial replacement oftriglyceride with any of the additives examined consistently reduced the amount of surfactant necessary to form single-phase microemulsions. However, the greatest boost in surfactant efficiency was found with the addition of medium molecular weight amphiphilic block copolymers.     

Self-assembly of phosphate fluorosurfactants in carbon dioxide

Anionic phosphodiester surfactants, possessing either two fluorinated chains (F/F) or one hydrocarbon chain and one fluorinated chain (H/F), were synthesized and evaluated for solubility and self-assembly in liquid and supercritical carbon dioxide. Several surfactants, of both F/F and H/F types and having varied counterions, were found to be capable of solubilizing water-in-CO2 (W/C), via the formation of microemulsions, expanding upon the family of phosphate fluorosurfactants already found to stabilize W/C microemulsions. Small-angle neutron scatteringwas used to directly characterize the microemulsion particles at varied temperatures, pressures, and water loadings, revealing behavior consistent with previous results on W/C microemulsions.     

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.     

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.     

Lipase-catalyzed enantioselective esterifications using different microemulsion-based gels

Chiral esters with high optical purity have been synthesized at 298.2 K from racemic 2-octanol and alkanoic acids using the commerical lipases fromChromobacterium viscosum (CV) orCandida sp. (SP 525) immobilized in microemulsion-based gelatin gels. The microemulsions consisted of water and alkanes stabilized by the anionic surfactant sodium 1,4-bis(2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate (AOT) and the naturally occurring zwitterionic surfactant soybean lecithin, respectively. The enzymes were solubilized both in water-in-oil (W/O) microemulsions and in microemulsions with a bicontinuous structure. Different microstructures of the gels were chosen since the enzyme may undergo conformational changes in different environments resulting in different catalytic efficiencies toward competing substrates. Therefore, it is of great fundamental interest to know the phase behaviour and the microstructures of the used microemulsion systems. Phase diagrams were determined at 298.2 K for the systems water-hexane-AOT and ethanol/water (11)-hexadecane-soybean lecithin. The former system exhibited a large one-phase W/O microemulsion region, while in the latter a small one-phase region with bicontinuous structure was present. The kinetic enantiomeric ratios (E-values), as determined from enantiomeric excess (e.e.) values at a conversion below 0.5, were higher both in the W/O microemulsion as well as in the bicontinuous microemulsion using the SP 525 lipase, than using the CV lipase. On the other hand, the conversions were higher using gels based on W/O microemulsions (AOT stabilized) than using gels based on microemulsions with a bicontinuous structure (lecithin stabilized).     

Thermal Behaviour of Perfluoropolyether w/o Percolative Microemulsions

The thermal properties of a perfluoropolyether (PFPE) W/O microemulsion were investigated by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) both on freezing the liquid samples and upon their melting. PFPE systems as a function of increasing volume fraction (Φ=water+surfactant/total), were studied along a dilution line with a water/surfactant molar ratio W/S=11. The percolative nature of these systems emerged directly from the spreading of the exothermic peaks associated with the freezing of the dispersed phase. This behaviour was found to depend on whether the starting temperature of the DSC measure was at, below or above the percolative threshold temperature of the given sample. A low temperature 'needle-like' peak was found around 143 K, immediately after the glass transition due to the oil continuous phase. The low temperature peak was also present in other percolative, three-component microemulsions. The higher order phase transition at the percolation temperature was also evidenced. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

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.     

Study on the Phase Behavior of Supercritical CO2／Dynol—604／Water System and Solubilization of Methyl Orange in the Microemulsions

It was found that Dynol-604, a non-fluorous and no silicon-containing nonionic surfactant,was soluble in supercritical (SC) CO2. The phase behavior of SC CO2/Dynol-604/water system was studies. The results showed that one-phase water-in-CO2 microemulsions could be fromed. The solubilization of methyl orange in the microemulsions proved further the existence of water domain in the microemulsions.     

Optimum tail length of fluorinated double-tail anionic surfactant for water/supercritical CO2 microemulsion formation

The effect of surfactant tail structure on the stability of a water/supercritical CO2 microemulsion (W/scCO2 muE) was examined for various fluorinated double-tail anionic surfactants of different fluorocarbon chain lengths, F(CF2)n (n = 4, 6, 8, and 10), and oxyethylene spacer lengths, (CH2CH2O)(m/2) (m = 2 and 4). The phase behavior of the water/surfactant/CO2 systems was studied over a wide range of CO2 densities from 0.70 to 0.85 g/cm(3) (temperatures from 35 to 75 degrees C and pressures up to 500 bar) and corrected water-to-surfactant molar ratios (W0c). All of the surfactants yielded a W/scCO2 muE phase, that is, a transparent homogeneous phase with a water content larger than that permitted by the solubility of water in pure CO2. With increasing W0c, a phase transition occurred from the muE phase to a macroemulsion or a lamella-like liquid crystal phase. The maximum W0c value was obtained at a tail length of 12-14 A, indicating the presence of an optimum surfactant tail length for W/scCO2 muE formation.     

Surfactant-mixing effects on the interfacial tension and the microemulsion formation in water/supercritical CO2 system

The effects of surfactant mixing on interfacial tension and on microemulsion formation were examined for systems of air/water and water/supercritical CO2 (scCO2) interfaces and for water/scCO2 microemulsions. A fluorinated surfactant, sodium bis(1H,1H,2H,2H-heptadecafluorodecyl)-2-sulfosuccinate (8FS(EO)2), was mixed with the three hydrocarbon surfactants, Pluronic L31, Tergitol TMN-6, and decyltrimethylammonium chloride (DeTAC), at equimolar ratio. For all the cases, the interfacial tension was significantly lowered by the mixing. The positive synergistic effect suggests that the mixed surfactants tend to pack more closely on the interface than the pure constituents. It was found, however, that the microemulsion formation in scCO2 was never facilitated by the mixing, except for the case of TMN-6. This is probably due to the segregation of the surfactants into hydrocarbon-rich and fluorocarbon-rich phases on the microemulsion surface.     

Capillary flooding of wood with microemulsions from Winsor I systems

A new approach based on microemulsions formulated with at least 85% water and minority components consisting of oil (limonene) and surfactant (anionic and nonionic) is demonstrated for the first time to be effective for flooding wood's complex capillary structure. The formulation of the microemulsion was based on phase behavior scans of Surfactant-Oil-Water systems (SOWs) and the construction of pseudo-ternary diagrams to localize thermodynamically stable one-phase emulsion systems with different composition, salinity and water-to-oil ratios. Wicking and fluid penetration isotherms followed different kinetic regimes and indicated enhanced performance relative to that of the base fluids (water, oil or surfactant solutions). The key properties of microemulsions to effectively penetrate the solid structure are discussed; microemulsion formulation and resultant viscosity are found to have a determining effect in the extent of fluid uptake. The solubilization of cell wall components is observed after microemulsion impregnation. Thus, the microemulsion can be tuned not only to effectively penetrate the void spaces but also to solubilize hydrophobic and hydrophilic components. The concept proposed in this research is expected to open opportunities in fluid sorption in fiber systems for biomass pretreatment, and delivery of hydrophilic or lipophilic moieties in porous, lignocellulosics.     

Phase Behavior of n‐Butanol/n‐Octane/Water/Cationic Gemini Surfactant System

Phase diagrams of the n‐butanol/n‐octane/water/(12‐3‐12,2Br^?1) system were determined, where n‐octane usually represents oil (O), 12‐3‐12,2Br^?1 is a gemini cationic surfactant trimethylene‐1,3‐bis(dodecyldimethyl ammonium bromide) abbreviated as S, and n‐butanol is a co‐surfactant written as A. Effects of the weight ratio of gemini surfactant to cosurfactant, S/A, and of temperature on the phase behavior were studied. The microemulsion structures including O/W, bi‐continuous (B.C.), W/O, and liquid crystal were determined by the conductivity method and polarization measurement. Experimental results show that the gemini surfactant, used facilitates the formation of microemulsions compared with its corresponding monomeric surfactant, n‐dodecyl trimethylammonium bromide (DTAB). When S/A=1/1, and the total concentration of gemini surfactant and alcohol is 20–40%, microemulsions with higher water content can form in a wider region. When the temperature increases, the size and position of each type of microemulsion region changes notably.     

Effective and efficient surfactant for CO2 having only short fluorocarbon chains

A previous study (Langmuir2011, 27, 5772) found the fluorinated double-tail sulfogulutarate 8FG(EO)(2) to act as a superefficient solubilizer for water in supercritical CO(2) (W/CO(2)) microemulsions. To explore more economic CO(2)-philic surfactants with high solubilizing power as well as rapid solubilization rates, the effects of fluorocarbon chain length and linking group were examined with sodium 1,5-bis(1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluoroalkyloxy)-1,5-dioxopentane-2-sulfonates (nFG(EO)(2), fluorocarbon chain length n = 4, 6, 8) and sodium 1,4-bis(1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluoroalkyloxy)-1,4-dioxobutane-2-sulfonate (nFS(EO)(2), n = 4, 8). Visual observation and UV-vis spectral measurements with methyl orange as a reporter dye indicated a maximum water-to-surfactant molar ratio (W(0)) in the microemulsions, which was 60-80 for nFG(EO)(2) and 40-50 for nFG(EO)(2). Although it is normally expected that high solubilizing power requires long fluorocarbon surfactant chains, the shortest fluorocarbon 4FG(EO)(2) interestingly achieved the highest W(0) (80) transparent single-phase W/CO(2) microemulsion. In addition, a very rapid solubilization of loaded water into CO(2) was observed for 4FG(EO)(2) even at a high W(0) of ~80.     

An attempt to detect bicontinuity from SANS data

SANS is a powerful tool to characterise microemulsions, which can have a discontinuous droplet-like structure (oil in water (O/W), water in oil (W/O)) or a bicontinuous one. In the present study, we try to distinguish O/W, W/O and bicontinuous microemulsions by SANS measurements under practical conditions and by a certain evaluation technique. For this reason we chose the well characterised ternary system water-non-ionic surfactant (C(12)E(5))-oil (n-octane), at a fixed surfactant concentration and performed SANS measurements throughout its one-phase channel where droplet-like phases as well as bicontinuous phases are well established. We evaluated the scattering data via the 'Generalised Indirect Fourier Transformation' method (GIFT) which is based on a particulate picture. It should therefore give good results in the droplet domains while a poor fit could be expected for the bicontinuous regime. For comparison we also applied the model of Teubner and Strey (TS) which was developed especially for bicontinuous phases, here a bad fit can be expected for the particulate regime. The data evaluation via GIFT leads to relatively good fits throughout the one-phase channel. The results are physically meaningful and are comparable to those of the TS model. We show that the scattering pattern of a bicontinuous microemulsion can be represented by that of a polydisperse particulate system. This is in clear contradiction to the expectation that the particle picture used in the GIFT method must fail when the bicontinuous regime is reached.     

Formation of water-in-CO(2) microemulsions with non-fluorous surfactant Ls-54 and solubilization of biomacromolecules

The solubility of Ls-54 surfactant in supercritical CO(2) was determined. It was found that the surfactant was highly soluble in SC CO(2) and the water-in-CO(2) microemulsions could be formed, despite it being a non-fluorous and non-siloxane nonionic surfactant. The main reasons for the high solubility and formation of the microemulsions may be that the surfactant has four CO(2)-philic groups (propylene oxide) and five hydrophilic groups (ethylene oxide) and its molecular weight are relatively low. The results of this work provide useful information for designing CO(2)-soluble non-fluorous and non-siloxane surfactants. The phase behavior of the CO(2)/Ls-54/H(2)O system, solvatochromic probe study, and the UV spectrum of lysozyme proved the existence of water domains in the SC CO(2) microemulsions. The method of synchrotron radiation small-angle X-ray scattering was used to obtain the structural information on the Ls-54 based water-in-CO(2) reverse micelles. By using the Guinier plot (ln I(q) versus q (2)) on the data sets in a defined small q range (0.022-0.040 A(-1)), the radii of the reverse micelles were obtained at different pressures and molar ratio of water to surfactant, W(0), which were in the range of 20.4-25.2 A.     

Interfacial Studies of the Formation of Microemulsions of Water in Carbon Dioxide with Fluorinated Surfactants

Measurements of the interfacial tension, γ, for water-CO₂-perfiuoropoly ether (PFPE) ionic surfactant systems are utilized to understand the surfactant affinity for the various phases and adsorption at the interface. A marked decrease in γ with salinity is observed as salt screens electrostatic repulsion and induces microemulsion formation, as confirmed with dynamic light scattering. In several cases, the interfacial tension goes through an unusual maximum with salinity, which is explained in terms of competition between surfactant affinity for the various phases and microemulsion formation. Fundamental studies of interfacial properties provide important insight for designing surfactants and experimental conditions to achieve the desired properties of water/CO² microemulsions and emulsions.     

Phase behavior of water-in-supercritical carbon dioxide microemulsion with sodium salt of bis(2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5-octafluoro-1-pentanol) sulfosuccinate

The fluorinated analogues of AOT surfactant, sodium salt of bis(2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5-octafluoro-1-pentanol) sulfosuccinate, which has CO₂-philic chains and a hydrophilic head group, was synthesized for forming water-in-CO₂ microemulsion. The cloud point of this surfactant was measured and the supercritical fluid-phase behavior of water-in-CO₂ microemulsion was investigated by using a variable-volume view cell apparatus. It was found that the phase behavior of microemulsion is affected by the concentrations of water and surfactant in CO₂, molar ratio of water to surfactant (W_o = [water]/[surfactant]), and the amount of CO₂. From this experiment, we found out another cloudy point which exists above the homogeneous microemulsion region. We defined this point as “upper cloud point” and general cloud point as “lower cloud point. The region which exists between these two cloud points was defined as “stable region of microemulsion”. Conditions for the formation of water-in-CO₂ microemulsion were obtained at temperatures up to 370.15 K.     

Effect of ionic surfactants on the phase behavior and structure of sucrose ester/water/oil systems

The phase behavior and structure of sucrose ester/water/oil systems in the presence of long-chain cosurfactant (monolaurin) and small amounts of ionic surfactants was investigated by phase study and small angle X-ray scattering. In a water/sucrose ester/monolaurin/decane system at 27 degrees C, instead of a three-phase microemulsion, lamellar liquid crystals are formed in the dilute region. Unlike other systems in the presence of alcohol as cosurfactant, the HLB composition does not change with dilution, since monolaurin adsorbs almost completely in the interface. The addition of small amounts of ionic surfactant, regardless of the counterion, increases the solubilization of water in W/O microemulsions. The solubilization on oil in O/W microemulsions is not much affected, but structuring is induced and a viscous isotropic phase is formed. At high ionic surfactant concentrations, the single-phase microemulsion disappears and liquid crystals are favored.     

Formation of fluorinated nonionic surfactant microemulsions in hydrofluorocarbon 134a (HFC 134a)

A structurally related series of fluorinated nonionic oxyethylene glycol surfactants of the type C(m)F(2m+1)(CH(2))(n)O[(CH(2)CH(2)O)(p)H], denoted C(m.n)E(p) (where m=4, 6, or 7, m=1 or 2, and p=4 or 6) were synthesized and their surface behavior in aqueous solution was characterized. The ability of these surfactants to form water-in-hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) propellant 134a microemulsions suitable for use in the aerosolized delivery of water-soluble drugs has been investigated. Phase studies showed that, regardless of the composition used, clear one-phase systems could not be prepared if a fluorinated nonionic surfactant was used alone, or in combination with a short or medium fluorocarbon alcohol cosurfactant. Clear one-phase systems could, however, be prepared if a short-chain hydrocarbon alcohol, such as ethanol, n-propanol, or n-pentanol, was used as cosurfactant, with the extent of the one-phase region increasing with decreased chain length of the alcohol cosurfactant. Light-scattering studies on a number of the hydrocarbon-alcoholcontaining systems in the propellant-rich part of the phase diagram showed that only systems prepared with C(4.2)E(6) and propanol contained microemulsion droplets (all other systems investigated were considered to be cosolvent systems).     

Interfacial tension between microemulsion and excess dispersed phases

Two-phase systems consisting of water-in-oil (W/O) microemulsions in equilibrium with excess water and oil-in-water (O/W) microemulsions in equilibrium with excess oil have been prepared using the surfactant sodium bis (2-ethylhexyl)sulphosuccinate (AOT) without cosurfactant. The interfacial tension of the planar interface separating the phases for the W/O case is only weakly dependent upon the volume fraction of droplets in the microemulsion phase whereas for the O/W case, the microemulsion droplet size increases and the tension drops as the dispersed volume fraction is increased.