Water solubilization in nonionic microemulsions stabilized by grafted siliconic emulsifiers

N. Garti*, A. Aserin, E. Wachtel, O. Gans, Y. Shaul

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

30 Scopus citations

Abstract

Microemulsions containing octanol, decanol, or dodecanol as the oil phase and oligomeric, grafted nonionic amphiphiles based on ethoxylated polymethylsiloxanes (Silwets) have been studied. It was demonstrated that significant amounts of water can be solubilized only when the hydrophobic siliconic backbone is very short (trimers). The water solubilization was evaluated using SAXS, DSC, and conductivity measurements. It was found that up to 40 wt% of water can be solubilized in dodecanol and Silwet L-7607 (MW 1000 and 75 wt% ethylene oxide (EO)). Surprisingly, no free water was detected in the aggregate core. All the solubilized water was confined in the vicinity of the interphasal region and froze at -10°C and below. Up to three molecules of water can be associated with each EO headgroup. Based on SAXS measurements, the structural units of the microemulsions were interpreted to be lamellar-like, a form previously found for the related monomeric microemulsions.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)286-294
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Colloid and Interface Science
Volume233
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 15 Jan 2001

Keywords

  • DSC of microemulsions
  • Microemulsions
  • Oligomeric amphiphiles
  • Polymeric emulsifiers
  • Polymethylsiloxane
  • SAXS

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