Monohexyl ether of ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol as microemulsion cosurfactants

Abstract

Hexyl carbitol has been found to give excellent water solubilizing capacity (42-45%) at high heptane level (41-43%) of w/o microemulsions using only 1% of SDS or CTAB. However, the maximum water solubilization decreased considerably as hexyl carbitol and heptane were replaced by hexyl cellosolve or/and toluene. The latter systems required a much higher concentration of SDS or CTAB. The solubilizing capacities for both systems of hexyl carbitol-heptane-SDS and hexyl carbitol-heptane-CTAB were markedly reduced by the addition of 1.5% NaCl. The effects of the nature of cosurfactant, oil and salinity are explained in terms of interfacial fluidity of the w/o microemulsion droplets.