Super-efficient surfactant for stabilizing water-in-carbon dioxide microemulsions

The fluorinated double-tailed glutarate anionic surfactant, sodium 1,5-bis[(1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorodecyl)oxy]-1,5-dioxopentane-2-sulfonate (8FG(EO)(2)), was found to stabilize water-in-supercritical CO(2) microemulsions with high water-to-surfactant molar ratios (W(0)). Studies were carried out here to obtain detailed information on the phase stability and nanostructure of the microemulsions by using a high-pressure UV-vis dye probe and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) measurements. The UV-vis spectra, with methyl orange as a reporter dye, indicated a maximum attainable W(0) of 60 at 45 and 75 °C, and SANS profiles indicated regular droplet swelling with a linear relationship between the water core nanodroplet radius and W(0). This represents the highest water solubilization reported to date for any water-in-CO(2) microemulsion. Further analysis of the SANS data indicated critical packing parameters for 8FG(EO)(2) at the microemulsion interface >1.34, representing approximately 1.1 times the value for common aerosol-OT in water-in-heptane microemulsions under equivalent conditions.     

Neutron scattering study of the structural change induced by photopolymerization of AOT/D2O/dodecyl acrylate inverse microemulsions

Small-angle and ultrasmall-angle neutron scattering (SANS/USANS) measurements were used to determine the structural changes induced by photopolymerization of AOT/D2O/(dodecyl acrylate) inverse microemulsion systems. Scattering profiles were collected for the initial microemulsions and the films resulting from photopolymerization of the oil phase. The SANS data for the microemulsions were modeled as spherical, core-shell droplets. Upon polymerization, the clear mircoemulsions formed opaque films. From the SANS/USANS data of the films, it was apparent that this morphology was not preserved upon polymerization; however, it was clearly observed that the formulation of the microemulsion had a large impact on the structure within the films. The Guinier region in the USANS data (2.5 x 10(-5) A(-1) < or = Q < or = 5.3 x 10(-3) A(-1)) from the films indicates that very large structures are formed. Simultaneously, a well-defined peak (0.15 A(-1) < or = Q < or = 0.25 A(-1)) in the SANS data indicates that there are also much smaller structures formed. It is proposed that the low-Q scattering arises from aggregation of the nanometer-size water droplets in the microemulsion to form droplets large enough to scatter visible light, while the peak in the high-Q region results from bilayered structures formed by the surfactant.     

States of water located in the continuous organic phase of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate/Triton X-100/triethylamine reverse microemulsions.

We demonstrate a novel ionic liquid (IL) microemulsion, consisting of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (bmimBF4) and nonionic surfactant Triton X-100 prepared in triethylamine which is used either as an organic solvent or a Lewis base. The effects of small amounts of added water on the microstructure of the IL microemulsion are investigated by various techniques. UV/Vis spectroscopic analysis and FTIR spectra indicate that these water molecules are not solubilized into the IL pools of the microemulsions. 1H NMR spectra further show that the added water binds with triethylamine to form a surrounding OH- base environment. Some of OH- ions enter the palisade layers of the IL microemulsions and a continuous base interface is created. The unique solubilization behavior of water reveals that it is possible to use the triethylamine microemulsions as a template to prepare metal hydroxides as well as metal oxides in the microemulsions, which is not possible when using traditional microemulsions.     

NMR and SANS studies of aggregation and microemulsion formation by phosphorus fluorosurfactants in liquid and supercritical carbon dioxide

(1)H NMR relaxation and diffusion studies were performed on water-in-CO(2) (W/C) microemulsion systems formed with phosphorus fluorosurfactants of bis[2-(F-hexyl)ethyl] phosphate salts (DiF(8)), having different counterions (Na(+), NH(4)(+), N(CH(3))(4)(+)) by means of high-pressure in situ NMR. Water has a low solubility in CO(2) and is mainly solubilized by the microemulsion droplets formed with surfactants added to CO(2) and water mixtures. There is rapid exchange of water between the bulk CO(2) and the microemulsion droplets; however, NMR relaxation measurements show that the entrapped water has restricted motion, and there is little "free" water in the core. Counterions entrapped by the droplets are mostly associated with the surfactant headgroups: diffusion measurements show that counterions and the surfactant molecules move together with a diffusion coefficient that is associated with the droplet. The outer shell of the microemulsion droplets consists of the surfactant tails with some associated CO(2). For W/C microemulsions formed with the phosphate-based surfactant having the ammonia counterion (A-DiF(8)), the (1)H NMR signal for NH(4)(+) shows a much larger diffusion coefficient than that of the surfactant tails. This apparent paradox is explained on the basis of proton exchange between water and the ammonium ion. The observed dependence of the relaxation time (T(2)) on W(0) (mole ratio of water to surfactant in the droplets) for water and NH(4)(+) can also be explained by this exchange model. The average hydrodynamic radius of A-DiF(8) microemulsion droplets estimated from NMR diffusion measurements (25 degrees C, 206 bar, W(0) = 5) was R(h) = 2.0 nm. Assuming the theoretical ratio of R(g)/R(h) = 0.775 for a solid sphere, where R(g) is the radius of gyration, the equivalent hydrodynamic radius from SANS is R(h) = 1.87 nm. The radii measured by the two techniques are in reasonable agreement, as the two techniques are weighted to measure somewhat different parts of the micelle structure.     

Role of solubilized water in the reverse ionic liquid microemulsion of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate/TX-100/benzene

The ionic liquid (IL) 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (bmimBF4) can form nonaqueous microemulsions with benzene by the aid of nonionic surfactant TX-100. The effect of water on ionic liquid-in-oil (IL/O) microemulsions was studied, and it was shown that the addition of small amount of water to the IL microemulsion contributed to the stability of microemulsion and thus increased the amount of solubilized bmimBF4 in the microemulsion. The conductivity measurements also showed that the attractive interactions between IL microdroplets were weakened, that is, the IL/O microemulsion becomes more stable in the present of some water. Fourier transform IR was carried out to analyze the states of the added water, and the result showed that these water molecules mainly behaved as bound water and trapped water, indicating that the water molecules are located in the palisade layers of the IL/O microemulsion. Furthermore, 1H NMR and 19F NMR spectra suggested that the added water molecules built the hydrogen binding network of imidazolium cations and H2O, BF4- anion and H2O, and at the same time the electronegative oxygen atoms of the oxyethylene units of TX-100 and water in the palisade layers, which made the palisade layers more firm and thus increased the stability of the microemulsion. The study can help in further understanding the formation mechanism of microemulsions. In addition, the characteristic solubilization behavior of the added water can provide an aqueous interface film for hydrolysis reactions and therefore may be used as an ideal medium to prepare porous or hollow nanomaterials.     

The effect of water on the microstructure of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate/TX-100/benzene ionic liquid microemulsions

The ionic liquid (IL) 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([bmim][BF4]) forms nonaqueous microemulsions with benzene with the aid of nonionic surfactant TX-100. The phase diagram of the ternary system was prepared, and the microstructures of the microemulsion were recognized. On the basis of the phase diagram, a series of ionic liquid-in-oil (IL/O) microemulsions were chosen and characterized by dynamic light scattering (DLS), which shows a similar swelling behavior to typical water-in-oil (W/O) microemulsions. The existence of IL pools in the IL/O microemulsion was confirmed by UV/Vis spectroscopic analysis with CoCl2 and methylene blue (MB) as the absorption probes. A constant polarity of the IL pool is observed, even if small amounts of water are added to the microemulsion, thus suggesting that the water molecules are solubilized in the polar outer shell of the microemulsion, as confirmed by FTIR spectra. 1H NMR spectroscopic analysis shows that these water molecules interact with the electronegative oxygen atoms of the oxyethylene (OE) units of TX-100 through hydrogen-bonding interactions, and the electronegative oxygen atoms of the water molecules attract the electropositive imidazolium rings of [bmim][BF4]. Hence, the water molecules are like a glue that stick the IL and OE units more tightly together and thus make the microemulsion system more stable. Considering the unique solubilization behavior of added water molecules, the IL/O microemulsion system may be used as a medium to prepare porous or hollow nanomaterials by hydrolysis reactions.     

The effect of changing the microstructure of a microemulsion on chemical reactivity

A kinetic study was carried out on various solvolytic reactions in water/ NH4OT /isooctane microemulsions. The NH4OT surfactant is a derivative of the sodium salt of bis(2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate (NaOT or AOT), where the Na+ counterion has been replaced by NH4+. The counterion substitution effects the phase diagram of the system, and therefore, NH4OT-based microemulsions with high water content reaching values of W = 350 (W = [H2O]/[NH4OT]) can be obtained. The presence of high W values suggests a transition in the microemulsion microstructure from water-in-oil (w/o) to oil-in-water (o/w), as was confirmed by conductivity and 1H NMR self-diffusion measurements. The interpretation of the kinetic studies in terms of pseudophase formalism allows us to analyze the effect of the microemulsion on chemical reactivity, regardless of its microstructure. It has been confirmed that the values of the solvolytic rate constants at the interphase of oil-in-water microemulsions are similar to those obtained for aqueous SDS systems, showing that the hydration degree of the interphase of the oil-in-water microemulsions is independent of W. The influence of the surfactant counterion on the solvolytic rate constants was analyzed by comparing HOT-, NaOT-, and NH4OT-based microemulsions. An important influence on the rate constants caused by the changes in the structural properties of water has been observed as was confirmed by the water 1H NMR signals.     

Efficient topical delivery of chlorogenic acid by an oil-in-water microemulsion to protect skin against UV-induced damage

We examined the intradermal delivery of a hydrophilic polyphenol chlorogenic acid by in vitro study using excised guinea pig dorsal skin and Yucatan micropig skin. Skin accumulation as well as the solubility of chlorogenic acid in aqueous vehicles was much greater than for other polyphenols such as quercetin and genistein. However, since enhancement of skin delivery seemed to be necessary to exhibit its protective effects against oxidative damage of skin, we examined the effects of microemulsions as vehicles. Using microemulsions consisting of 150 mM NaCl solution, isopropyl myristate, polyoxyethylene sorbitan monooleate (Tween 80) and ethanol, skin accumulation as well as solubility of chlorogenic acid further increased. Enhancement effect of an oil-in-water (o/w-type) microemulsion was greater than that of a water-in-oil (w/o-type) microemulsion possibly due to the greater increase in solubility. This finding was quite different from previous findings on relatively hydrophobic polyphenols such as quercetin and genistein. Pretreatment of guinea pig dorsal skin with chlorogenic acid containing microemulsion gel prevented erythema formation induced by UV irradiation. These findings indicate the potential use of hydrophilic chlorogenic acid with o/w-type microemulsion as a vehicle to protect skin against UV-induced oxidative damage.     

Heavy metals adsorption by novel EDTA-modified chitosan-silica hybrid materials

Ionic liquid based microemulsions were characterized by absorption solvatochromic shifts, (1)H NMR and kinetic measurements in order to investigate the properties of the ionic liquid within the restricted geometry provided by microemulsions and the interactions of the ionic liquid with the interface. Experimental results show a significant difference between the interfaces of normal water and the new ionic liquid microemulsions. Absorption solvatochromic shift experiments and kinetic studies on the aminolysis of 4-nitrophenyl laurate by n-decylamine show that the polarity at the interface of the ionic liquid in oil microemulsions (IL/O) is higher than at the interface of water in oil microemulsions (W/O) despite the fact that the polarity of [bmim][BF(4)(-)] is lower than the polarity of water. (1)H NMR experiments showed that an increase in the ionic liquid content of the microemulsion led to an increase in the interaction between [bmim][BF(4)(-)] and TX-100. The reason for the higher polarity of the microemulsions with the ionic liquid can be explained in terms of the incorporation of higher levels of the ionic liquid at the interface of the microemulsions, as compared to water in the traditional systems.     

Decrease of droplet size of the reverse microemulsion 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate/Triton X-100/cyclohexane by addition of water

In the present contribution, results concerning the role of small amounts of water in the 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (bmimBF4)-in-cyclohexane ionic liquid (IL) reverse microemulsions are reported. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) revealed that the size of microemulsion droplets decreased remarkably with increasing water content although water is often used as a polar component to swell reverse microemulsions. It was thus deduced that the number of microemulsion droplets was increased which was confirmed by conductivity measurements. The states of dissolved water were investigated by Fourier transform IR (FTIR) spectroscopic analysis showing that water molecules mainly act as bound water. 1H NMR along with two-dimensional rotating frame nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE) experiments (ROESY) further revealed that water molecules were mainly located in the periphery of the polar core of the microemulsion droplets and behave like a chock being inserted in the palisade layer of the droplet. This increased the curvature of the surfactant film at the IL/cyclohexane interface and thus led to the decrease of the microemulsion droplet size. The order of surfactant molecules arranged in the interface film was increased and thus induced a loss of entropy. Isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) indicated that an enthalpy increase compensates for the loss of entropy during the process of microstructural transition.     

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.     

Structural studies of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate/TX-100/ p-xylene ionic liquid microemulsions.

The ionic liquid (IL) 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (bmimBF4) forms nonaqueous microemulsions with p-xylene, with the aid of the nonionic surfactant TX-100. The phase behavior of the ternary system is investigated, and three microregions of the microemulsions-ionic liquid-in-oil (IL/O), bicontinuous, and oil-in-ionic liquid (O/IL)-are identified by conductivity measurements, according to percolation theory. On the basis of a phase diagram, a series of IL/O microemulsions are chosen and characterized by dynamic light scattering (DLS). The size of aggregates increases on increasing the amount of added polar component (bmimBF(4)), which is a similar phenomenon to that observed for typical water-in-oil (W/O) microemulsions, suggesting the formation of IL/O microemulsions. The microstructural characteristics of the microemulsions are investigated by FTIR and 1H NMR spectroscopy. The results indicate that the interaction between the electronegative oxygen atoms of the oxyethylene (OE) units in TX-100 and the electropositive imidazolium ring may be the driving force for the solubilization of bmimBF4 into the core of the TX-100 aggregates. In addition, the micropolarity of the microemulsions is investigated by using methyl orange (MO) as a UV/Vis spectroscopic probe. A relatively constant polarity of the microemulsion droplets is obtained in the IL microemulsion. Finally, a plausible structure for the IL/O microemulsion is presented.     

Aggregation behavior of pyridinium based ionic liquids in water--surface tension, 1H NMR chemical shifts, SANS and SAXS measurements

The aggregation behavior of short alkyl chain ionic liquids (ILs), namely 1-butyl, or 1-hexyl or 1-octylpyridinium and 1-octyl-2-, or -3-, or -4-methylpyridinium chlorides, in water has been assessed using surface tension, electrical conductance, (1)H NMR, small angle neutron scattering (SANS) and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) measurements. Critical aggregation concentrations (CACs), adsorption (at air/water interface) and thermodynamic parameters of aggregation have been reported. The values of CAC and area per adsorbed molecule decrease with the number of carbon atoms in the alkyl chain. The aggregation process is driven by both favorable enthalpy and entropy contributions. An attempt was made to examine the morphological features of the aggregates in water using SANS and SAXS methods. SANS and SAXS curves displayed diffuse structural peaks that could not be model fitted, and therefore, we calculated the mean aggregation numbers from the Q(max) assuming that IL molecules typically order into cubic type clusters.     

Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy of water-in-oil microemulsions: an application in specific characterisation of droplets containing biomolecules

Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) has been successfully used to characterise water-in-oil (w/o) microemulsions. The investigated systems were stabilised by sodium bis-2-ethylhexyl sulphosuccinate (AOT) and the measured diffusion times have been related to the radii of the aggregated species, which for some systems, were separately determined by small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). We demonstrate that FCS is capable of measuring hydrodynamic radii of microemulsions rapidly and at surfactant concentrations lower than previously reported for other techniques. FCS was also used to specifically interrogate microemulsion droplets containing a fluorescently-labelled biomolecule, specifically phalloidin, a peptide fungal toxin from Amanita phalloides, and the enzyme -chymotrypsin (-CT). The microemulsion droplets are only marginally increased in size if a small peptide (phalloidin) is included in the water phase, whereas the droplet size is significantly increased when a larger protein (-CT) is included.     

四-(4-苯基磺酸基)卟啉在反相微乳内相中的聚集行为

本文系统研究了四-(4-苯基磺酸基)卟啉(TPPS)在由聚乙二醇辛基苯基醚（TX-100）构筑的反相微乳液内相中的聚集行为。通过改变反相微乳水相液滴的pH值、粒径及TPPS的浓度,发现在反相乳液内相中TPPS的表观pKa明显小于在水溶液中的pKa（4.9）,并且,TPPS的表观pKa随着水相液滴粒径的减小而降低;当水相液滴的pH > pKa时,TPPS以去质子化单体H2TPPS4-形式存在,而当pH < pKa时,TPPS以质子化单体H4TPPS2-和J-聚集两种形式存在,并且TPPS浓度的增大,促进了H4TPPS2-向J-聚集转变;在pH值不变的条件下,随着水相液滴粒径的增大,TPPS的存在状态由H2TPPS4-向H4TPPS2-转变,并形成J-聚集。     

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.     

Layered structure of room-temperature ionic liquids in microemulsions by multinuclear NMR spectroscopic studies

Microemulsions form in mixtures of polar, nonpolar, and amphiphilic molecules. Typical microemulsions employ water as the polar phase. However, microemulsions can form with a polar phase other than water, which hold promise to diversify the range of properties, and hence utility, of microemulsions. Here microemulsions formed by using a room‐temperature ionic liquid (RTIL) as the polar phase were created and characterized by using multinuclear NMR spectroscopy. ¹H, ¹¹B, and ¹⁹F NMR spectroscopy was applied to explore differences between microemulsions formed by using 1‐butyl‐3‐methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([bmim][BF₄]) as the polar phase with a cationic surfactant, benzylhexadecyldimethylammonium chloride (BHDC), and a nonionic surfactant, Triton X‐100 (TX‐100). NMR spectroscopy showed distinct differences in the behavior of the RTIL as the charge of the surfactant head group varies in the different microemulsion environments. Minor changes in the chemical shifts were observed for [bmim]⁺ and [BF₄]^? in the presence of TX‐100 suggesting that the surfactant and the ionic liquid are separated in the microemulsion. The large changes in spectroscopic parameters observed are consistent with microstructure formation with layering of [bmim]⁺ and [BF₄]^? and migration of Cl^? within the BHDC microemulsions. Comparisons with NMR results for related ionic compounds in organic and aqueous environments as well as literature studies assisted the development of a simple organizational model for these microstructures.     

Solubilisation of triolein by microemulsions containing C12E4/hexadecane/water: equilibrium and dynamics

Increasing triolein content of oil-in-water microemulsions in the pure C(12)E(4)/water/n-hexadecane/triolein system while maintaining a fixed surfactant concentration and volume fraction of drops raises the temperature of the solubilisation boundary, where excess oil separates, but has only a slight effect on the (higher) cloud point temperature, where excess water appears. Thus, the temperature range of the single-phase microemulsion shrinks and ultimately disappears. When such microemulsions are in equilibrium with excess oil, the hexadecane/triolein ratio is greater in the microemulsion, probably because the larger triolein molecules are unable to penetrate the hydrocarbon chain region of the surfactant films of the microemulsion droplets. Indeed, monolayer studies and calculations based on microemulsion and excess oil compositions indicate that the films have minimal triolein and similar ratios of hexadecane to surfactant. Triolein drops brought into contact with hexadecane-in-water microemulsions first swell as they incorporate hexadecane, then shrink owing to solubilisation. Interfacial tension decreases during this process until it becomes almost constant near 0.01 mN m(-1), suggesting that the drops in the final stages of solubilisation have high hexadecane contents. A microemulsion containing 10 wt% C(12)E(4) and 15 wt% hexadecane was able to remove over 50% of triolein from polyester fabric at 25 degrees C, more than twice that removed by an oil-free solution with the same surfactant concentration in similar experiments.     

Structure of microemulsions with gemini surfactant studied by solvatochromic probe and diffusion NMR

The structure of microemulsions prepared by the anionic gemini surfactant didodecyl diphenyl ether disulfonate (C12-DADS) was investigated by a solvatochromic probe and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) diffusion measurements. The NMR measurements indicate the presence of bicontinuous and oil-in-water microemulsions depending on microemulsion composition. The absorbance spectra of the solvatochromic probe, Nile red, indicate the solubilization of the probe in different sites, in agreement with the NMR findings. It was also found that the microemulsions were capable of dissolving the hydrophobic probe, Nile red, up to four times better than expected if it were simply dissolved in the toluene phase.