Oil-Induced Structural Change in Nonionic Microemulsions

Abstract

Effect of added oil (heptane or squalane) on the microemulsion structures in polyoxyethylene dodecyl ether (C₁₂EO_n) systems was investigated by means of phase behavior and NMR diffusion experiments. In the binary water-C₁₂EO_n systems, an isotropic fluid, D₂ (or L₃), and an aqueous micellar solution, Wm, phases are successively formed with increasing the EO-chain length. Upon addition of heptane, D₂ and Wm phases are merged and a microemulsion of large solubilization is produced at a low surfactant concentration. With squalane, the solubilization of oil in D₂ phase is very low or almost zero, whereas the oil solubilization in Wm phase is relatively large. These structural changes in microemulsions are discussed based on the self-diffusion coefficients of water, oil, and surfactant measured by the PGSE-NMR method. The difference in the phase behavior may be attributed to the difference in the penetration tendency of oil in the surfactant palisade layer.

Keywords:

• Microemulsion
• Poly(oxyethylene)dodecyl ether
• PGSE-NMR method
• Self-diffusion
• HLB temperature

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This work was partly supported by grants from Grant-in-Aid for Japan Society for the Promotion Science Fellows (to K.O.).