Tailored ionic liquid-based surfactants for the formation of microemulsions with water and a hydrophobic ionic liquid.

Porada, Jan H; Zauser, Diana; Feucht, Birgit; Stubenrauch, Cosima · Soft Matter · 2016

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Microemulsions (μe) with water and a hydrophobic ionic liquid (IL) usually require 45-60 wt% surfactant to solubilize equal amounts of water and IL. To increase the efficiency we designed a new class of surfactants by combining a hydrophilic but IL-ophobic carbohydrate-based part with a hydrophobic but IL-ophilic IL-based part. These surfactants allow formulating microemulsions with 20 wt% surfactant only which opens up a new arena for efficient water-IL μes.