ABSTRACT
Water/TX-100/Hexanol/Octane reverse microemulsions were investigated by Microcalorimetry and FT-IR. Experiments show that the formation of this reverse microemulsion is an exothermic process, and it's a two-step reaction. The first step is action of TX-100 monomers with water to form hydrogen bond while the second is interaction between polyethylene oxide groups in reverse micelles and water. The characterizations of FT-IR and Microcalorimetry indicate that aqueous core of the microemulsion droplets are composed of bound and free water while a small amount of trapped water, OH stretching vibration peak of bound water, free water, and trapped water are at 3400 ±20 cm−1, 3220 ± 20 cm−1, and 3550 ± 20 cm−1 respectively. Polyethylene oxide ether of TX-100 is prior to phenyl ether in acting with water because its polarity is stronger than phenyl ester.