Microemulsions Stabilized by Oleate/Pentanol

Abstract

In various applications of microemulsions it is of interest to control the distribution and transport of different species. For example, in cleaning processes it is important that the uptake and transport to the appropriate solubilization site is rapid, both for water-soluble and oil-soluble material, while in other applications the opposite is desired. In order to better understand the transport mechanism in microemulsion systems we have studied the self-diffusion of the different components by means of pulsed gradient spin echo FT-NMR. In addition, ²³Na NMR has been used to monitor changes at the molecular level in the hydrophobic/hydrophilic interfacial region. The investigated systems contain water, sodium or potassium oleate, pentanol and benzene or decane (Figure 1).