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6. DANIEL BLANKSCHTEIN
Department of Chemical
Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of
Technology
Cambridge, Massachusetts
S. KARABORNI
Shell International Petroleum
Company Limited
London, England
LISA B. QUENCER
The Dow Chemical Company
Midland, Michigan
JOHN F. SCAMEHORN
Institute for Applied Surfactant
Research
University of Oklahoma
Norman, Oklahoma
P. SOMASUNDARAN
Henry Krumb School of Mines
Columbia University
New York, New York
ERIC W. KALER
Department of Chemical
Engineering
University of Delaware
Newark, Delaware
CLARENCE MILLER
Department of Chemical
Engineering
Rice University
Houston, Texas
DON RUBINGH
The Procter & Gamble Company
Cincinnati, Ohio
BEREND SMIT
Shell International Oil Products B.V.
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
JOHN TEXTER
Strider Research Corporation
Rochester, New York
SURFACTANT SCIENCE SERIES
FOUNDING EDITOR
MARTIN J. SCHICK
1918–1998
SERIES EDITOR
ARTHUR T. HUBBARD
Santa Barbara Science Project
Santa Barbara, California
ADVISORY BOARD
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7. 1. Nonionic Surfactants, edited by Martin J. Schick (see also Volumes 19,
23, and 60)
2. Solvent Properties of Surfactant Solutions, edited by Kozo Shinoda
(see Volume 55)
3. Surfactant Biodegradation, R. D. Swisher (see Volume 18)
4. Cationic Surfactants, edited by Eric Jungermann (see also Volumes 34,
37, and 53)
5. Detergency: Theory and Test Methods (in three parts), edited by
W. G. Cutler and R. C. Davis (see also Volume 20)
6. Emulsions and Emulsion Technology (in three parts), edited by
Kenneth J. Lissant
7. Anionic Surfactants (in two parts), edited by Warner M. Linfield
(see Volume 56)
8. Anionic Surfactants: Chemical Analysis, edited by John Cross
9. Stabilization of Colloidal Dispersions by Polymer Adsorption, Tatsuo Sato
and Richard Ruch
10. Anionic Surfactants: Biochemistry, Toxicology, Dermatology, edited by
Christian Gloxhuber (see Volume 43)
11. Anionic Surfactants: Physical Chemistry of Surfactant Action, edited by
E. H. Lucassen-Reynders
12. Amphoteric Surfactants, edited by B. R. Bluestein and Clifford L. Hilton
(see Volume 59)
13. Demulsification: Industrial Applications, Kenneth J. Lissant
14. Surfactants in Textile Processing, Arved Datyner
15. Electrical Phenomena at Interfaces: Fundamentals, Measurements,
and Applications, edited by Ayao Kitahara and Akira Watanabe
16. Surfactants in Cosmetics, edited by Martin M. Rieger (see Volume 68)
17. Interfacial Phenomena: Equilibrium and Dynamic Effects,
Clarence A. Miller and P. Neogi
18. Surfactant Biodegradation: Second Edition, Revised and Expanded,
R. D. Swisher
19. Nonionic Surfactants: Chemical Analysis, edited by John Cross
20. Detergency: Theory and Technology, edited by W. Gale Cutler
and Erik Kissa
21. Interfacial Phenomena in Apolar Media, edited by Hans-Friedrich Eicke
and Geoffrey D. Parfitt
22. Surfactant Solutions: New Methods of Investigation, edited by
Raoul Zana
23. Nonionic Surfactants: Physical Chemistry, edited by Martin J. Schick
24. Microemulsion Systems, edited by Henri L. Rosano and Marc Clausse
25. Biosurfactants and Biotechnology, edited by Naim Kosaric, W. L. Cairns,
and Neil C. C. Gray
26. Surfactants in Emerging Technologies, edited by Milton J. Rosen
27. Reagents in Mineral Technology, edited by P. Somasundaran
and Brij M. Moudgil
28. Surfactants in Chemical/Process Engineering, edited by Darsh T. Wasan,
Martin E. Ginn, and Dinesh O. Shah
29. Thin Liquid Films, edited by I. B. Ivanov
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8. 30. Microemulsions and Related Systems: Formulation, Solvency, and
Physical Properties, edited by Maurice Bourrel and Robert S. Schechter
31. Crystallization and Polymorphism of Fats and Fatty Acids, edited by
Nissim Garti and Kiyotaka Sato
32. Interfacial Phenomena in Coal Technology, edited by Gregory D. Botsaris
and Yuli M. Glazman
33. Surfactant-Based Separation Processes, edited by John F. Scamehorn
and Jeffrey H. Harwell
34. Cationic Surfactants: Organic Chemistry, edited by James M. Richmond
35. Alkylene Oxides and Their Polymers, F. E. Bailey, Jr.,
and Joseph V. Koleske
36. Interfacial Phenomena in Petroleum Recovery, edited by
Norman R. Morrow
37. Cationic Surfactants: Physical Chemistry, edited by Donn N. Rubingh
and Paul M. Holland
38. Kinetics and Catalysis in Microheterogeneous Systems, edited by
M. Grätzel and K. Kalyanasundaram
39. Interfacial Phenomena in Biological Systems, edited by Max Bender
40. Analysis of Surfactants, Thomas M. Schmitt (see Volume 96)
41. Light Scattering by Liquid Surfaces and Complementary Techniques,
edited by Dominique Langevin
42. Polymeric Surfactants, Irja Piirma
43. Anionic Surfactants: Biochemistry, Toxicology, Dermatology,
Second Edition, Revised and Expanded, edited by Christian Gloxhuber
and Klaus Künstler
44. Organized Solutions: Surfactants in Science and Technology, edited by
Stig E. Friberg and Björn Lindman
45. Defoaming: Theory and Industrial Applications, edited by P. R. Garrett
46. Mixed Surfactant Systems, edited by Keizo Ogino and Masahiko Abe
47. Coagulation and Flocculation: Theory and Applications, edited by
Bohuslav Dobiás
48. Biosurfactants: Production Properties Applications, edited by
Naim Kosaric
49. Wettability, edited by John C. Berg
50. Fluorinated Surfactants: Synthesis Properties Applications, Erik Kissa
51. Surface and Colloid Chemistry in Advanced Ceramics Processing,
edited by Robert J. Pugh and Lennart Bergström
52. Technological Applications of Dispersions, edited by Robert B. McKay
53. Cationic Surfactants: Analytical and Biological Evaluation, edited by
John Cross and Edward J. Singer
54. Surfactants in Agrochemicals, Tharwat F. Tadros
55. Solubilization in Surfactant Aggregates, edited by Sherril D. Christian
and John F. Scamehorn
56. Anionic Surfactants: Organic Chemistry, edited by Helmut W. Stache
57. Foams: Theory, Measurements, and Applications, edited by
Robert K. Prud’homme and Saad A. Khan
58. The Preparation of Dispersions in Liquids, H. N. Stein
59. Amphoteric Surfactants: Second Edition, edited by Eric G. Lomax
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9. 60. Nonionic Surfactants: Polyoxyalkylene Block Copolymers, edited by
Vaughn M. Nace
61. Emulsions and Emulsion Stability, edited by Johan Sjöblom
62. Vesicles, edited by Morton Rosoff
63. Applied Surface Thermodynamics, edited by A. W. Neumann
and Jan K. Spelt
64. Surfactants in Solution, edited by Arun K. Chattopadhyay and K. L. Mittal
65. Detergents in the Environment, edited by Milan Johann Schwuger
66. Industrial Applications of Microemulsions, edited by Conxita Solans
and Hironobu Kunieda
67. Liquid Detergents, edited by Kuo-Yann Lai
68. Surfactants in Cosmetics: Second Edition, Revised and Expanded,
edited by Martin M. Rieger and Linda D. Rhein
69. Enzymes in Detergency, edited by Jan H. van Ee, Onno Misset,
and Erik J. Baas
70. Structure-Performance Relationships in Surfactants, edited by
Kunio Esumi and Minoru Ueno
71. Powdered Detergents, edited by Michael S. Showell
72. Nonionic Surfactants: Organic Chemistry, edited by Nico M. van Os
73. Anionic Surfactants: Analytical Chemistry, Second Edition,
Revised and Expanded, edited by John Cross
74. Novel Surfactants: Preparation, Applications, and Biodegradability,
edited by Krister Holmberg
75. Biopolymers at Interfaces, edited by Martin Malmsten
76. Electrical Phenomena at Interfaces: Fundamentals, Measurements,
and Applications, Second Edition, Revised and Expanded, edited by
Hiroyuki Ohshima and Kunio Furusawa
77. Polymer-Surfactant Systems, edited by Jan C. T. Kwak
78. Surfaces of Nanoparticles and Porous Materials, edited by
James A. Schwarz and Cristian I. Contescu
79. Surface Chemistry and Electrochemistry of Membranes, edited by
Torben Smith Sørensen
80. Interfacial Phenomena in Chromatography, edited by Emile Pefferkorn
81. Solid–Liquid Dispersions, Bohuslav Dobiás, Xueping Qiu,
and Wolfgang von Rybinski
82. Handbook of Detergents, editor in chief: Uri Zoller Part A: Properties,
edited by Guy Broze
83. Modern Characterization Methods of Surfactant Systems, edited by
Bernard P. Binks
84. Dispersions: Characterization, Testing, and Measurement, Erik Kissa
85. Interfacial Forces and Fields: Theory and Applications, edited by
Jyh-Ping Hsu
86. Silicone Surfactants, edited by Randal M. Hill
87. Surface Characterization Methods: Principles, Techniques,
and Applications, edited by Andrew J. Milling
88. Interfacial Dynamics, edited by Nikola Kallay
89. Computational Methods in Surface and Colloid Science, edited by
Malgorzata Borówko
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10. 90. Adsorption on Silica Surfaces, edited by Eugène Papirer
91. Nonionic Surfactants: Alkyl Polyglucosides, edited by Dieter Balzer
and Harald Lüders
92. Fine Particles: Synthesis, Characterization, and Mechanisms of Growth,
edited by Tadao Sugimoto
93. Thermal Behavior of Dispersed Systems, edited by Nissim Garti
94. Surface Characteristics of Fibers and Textiles, edited by
Christopher M. Pastore and Paul Kiekens
95. Liquid Interfaces in Chemical, Biological, and Pharmaceutical
Applications, edited by Alexander G. Volkov
96. Analysis of Surfactants: Second Edition, Revised and Expanded,
Thomas M. Schmitt
97. Fluorinated Surfactants and Repellents: Second Edition, Revised
and Expanded, Erik Kissa
98. Detergency of Specialty Surfactants, edited by Floyd E. Friedli
99. Physical Chemistry of Polyelectrolytes, edited by Tsetska Radeva
100. Reactions and Synthesis in Surfactant Systems, edited by John Texter
101. Protein-Based Surfactants: Synthesis, Physicochemical Properties,
and Applications, edited by Ifendu A. Nnanna and Jiding Xia
102. Chemical Properties of Material Surfaces, Marek Kosmulski
103. Oxide Surfaces, edited by James A. Wingrave
104. Polymers in Particulate Systems: Properties and Applications, edited by
Vincent A. Hackley, P. Somasundaran, and Jennifer A. Lewis
105. Colloid and Surface Properties of Clays and Related Minerals,
Rossman F. Giese and Carel J. van Oss
106. Interfacial Electrokinetics and Electrophoresis, edited by
Ángel V. Delgado
107. Adsorption: Theory, Modeling, and Analysis, edited by József Tóth
108. Interfacial Applications in Environmental Engineering, edited by
Mark A. Keane
109. Adsorption and Aggregation of Surfactants in Solution, edited by
K. L. Mittal and Dinesh O. Shah
110. Biopolymers at Interfaces: Second Edition, Revised and Expanded,
edited by Martin Malmsten
111. Biomolecular Films: Design, Function, and Applications, edited by
James F. Rusling
112. Structure–Performance Relationships in Surfactants: Second Edition,
Revised and Expanded, edited by Kunio Esumi and Minoru Ueno
113. Liquid Interfacial Systems: Oscillations and Instability, Rudolph V. Birikh,
Vladimir A. Briskman, Manuel G. Velarde, and Jean-Claude Legros
114. Novel Surfactants: Preparation, Applications, and Biodegradability:
Second Edition, Revised and Expanded, edited by Krister Holmberg
115. Colloidal Polymers: Synthesis and Characterization, edited by
Abdelhamid Elaissari
116. Colloidal Biomolecules, Biomaterials, and Biomedical Applications,
edited by Abdelhamid Elaissari
117. Gemini Surfactants: Synthesis, Interfacial and Solution-Phase Behavior,
and Applications, edited by Raoul Zana and Jiding Xia
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11. 118. Colloidal Science of Flotation, Anh V. Nguyen and Hans Joachim Schulze
119. Surface and Interfacial Tension: Measurement, Theory, and Applications,
edited by Stanley Hartland
120. Microporous Media: Synthesis, Properties, and Modeling, Freddy Romm
121. Handbook of Detergents, editor in chief: Uri Zoller, Part B: Environmental
Impact, edited by Uri Zoller
122. Luminous Chemical Vapor Deposition and Interface Engineering,
HirotsuguYasuda
123. Handbook of Detergents, editor in chief: Uri Zoller, Part C: Analysis,
edited by Heinrich Waldhoff and Rüdiger Spilker
124. Mixed Surfactant Systems: Second Edition, Revised and Expanded,
edited by Masahiko Abe and John F. Scamehorn
125. Dynamics of Surfactant Self-Assemblies: Micelles, Microemulsions,
Vesicles and Lyotropic Phases, edited by Raoul Zana
126. Coagulation and Flocculation: Second Edition, edited by
Hansjoachim Stechemesser and Bohulav Dobiás
127. Bicontinuous Liquid Crystals, edited by Matthew L. Lynch
and Patrick T. Spicer
128. Handbook of Detergents, editor in chief: Uri Zoller, Part D: Formulation,
edited by Michael S. Showell
129. Liquid Detergents: Second Edition, edited by Kuo-Yann Lai
130. Finely Dispersed Particles: Micro-, Nano-, and Atto-Engineering,
edited by Aleksandar M. Spasic and Jyh-Ping Hsu
131. Colloidal Silica: Fundamentals and Applications, edited by
Horacio E. Bergna and William O. Roberts
132. Emulsions and Emulsion Stability, Second Edition, edited by
Johan Sjöblom
133. Micellar Catalysis, Mohammad Niyaz Khan
134. Molecular and Colloidal Electro-Optics, Stoyl P. Stoylov
and Maria V. Stoimenova
135. Surfactants in Personal Care Products and Decorative Cosmetics,
Third Edition, edited by Linda D. Rhein, Mitchell Schlossman,
Anthony O'Lenick, and P. Somasundaran
136. Rheology of Particulate Dispersions and Composites, Rajinder Pal
137. Powders and Fibers: Interfacial Science and Applications, edited by
Michel Nardin and Eugène Papirer
138. Wetting and Spreading Dynamics, edited by Victor Starov,
Manuel G. Velarde, and Clayton Radke
139. Interfacial Phenomena: Equilibrium and Dynamic Effects, Second Edition,
edited by Clarence A. Miller and P. Neogi
140. Giant Micelles: Properties and Applications, edited by Raoul Zana
and Eric W. Kaler
141. Handbook of Detergents, editor in chief: Uri Zoller, Part E: Applications,
edited by Uri Zoller
142. Handbook of Detergents, editor in chief: Uri Zoller, Part F: Production,
edited by Uri Zoller and co-edited by Paul Sosis
143. Sugar-Based Surfactants: Fundamentals and Applications, edited by
Cristóbal Carnero Ruiz
144. Microemulsions: Properties and Applications, edited by Monzer Fanun
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13. MICROEMULSIONS
Edited by
Monzer Fanun
Al-Quds University
East Jerusalem, Palestine
CRC Press is an imprint of the
Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
Boca Raton London New York
Properties and Applications
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15. Contents
Foreword ............................................................................................................. xv
Preface................................................................................................................xxi
Editor ................................................................................................................xxv
Contributors ....................................................................................................xxvii
Chapter 1 A Phase Diagram Approach to Microemulsions.............................1
Stig E. Friberg and Patricia A. Aikens
Chapter 2 Physicochemistry of W/O Microemulsions: Formation,
Stability, and Droplet Clustering................................................... 17
Animesh Kumar Rakshit and Satya Priya Moulik
Chapter 3 Percolating Phenomenon in Microemulsions:
Effect of External Entity ............................................................... 59
S. K. Mehta, Khushwinder Kaur, Gurpreet Kaur,
and K. K. Bhasin
Chapter 4 Influence of Polyethylene Glycols and Polyethylene Glycol
Dimethyl Ethers upon the Internal Dynamics of Water
in Oil Microemulsions................................................................... 77
A. Cid, L. García-Río, D. Gómez-Díaz, and J. C. Mejuto
Chapter 5 Microemulsions with Mixed Nonionic Surfactants ...................... 87
Monzer Fanun
Chapter 6 Simple Alcohols and Their Role in the Structure
and Interactions of Microemulsion Systems ................................143
Matija Tomšič and Andrej Jamnik
Chapter 7 Formation and Characterization of Emulsified
Microemulsions........................................................................... 185
Anan Yaghmur, Liliana de Campo, and Otto Glatter
xi
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16. xii Contents
Chapter 8 Dynamics of Solvent and Rotational Relaxation of RTILs
in RTILs-Containing Microemulsions........................................ 203
Debabrata Seth and Nilmoni Sarkar
Chapter 9 Microemulsion Systems and Their Potential
as Drug Carriers.......................................................................... 247
Raid G. Alany, Gamal M. M. El Maghraby,
Karen Krauel-Goellner, and Anja Graf
Chapter 10 Physicochemical Characterization of Pharmaceutically
Applicable Microemulsions: Tween 40/Imwitor 308/
Isopropyl Myristate/Water .......................................................... 293
Mirjana Gašperlin and Marija Bešter-Rogač
Chapter 11 Places of Microemulsion and Emulsion in Cancer Therapy:
In Vitro and In Vivo Evaluation...................................................313
Ercüment Karasulu, Burçak Karaca, Levent Alparslan,
and H. Yesim Karasulu
Chapter 12 Enzyme Kinetics as a Useful Probe for Micelle
and Microemulsion Structure and Dynamics ..............................331
Werner Kunz, Didier Touraud, and Pierre Bauduin
Chapter 13 Biocatalysis in Microemulsions .................................................. 349
A. Xenakis, V. Papadimitriou, H. Stamatis, and F. N. Kolisis
Chapter 14 Microemulsions as Decontamination Media for Chemical
Weapons and Toxic Industrial Chemicals................................... 387
Thomas Hellweg, Stefan Wellert, Hans-Juergen Altmann,
and André Richardt
Chapter 15 Microemulsions as Potential Interfacial Chemical Systems
Applied in the Petroleum Industry...............................................411
Afonso Avelino Dantas Neto, Tereza Neuma de Castro
Dantas, Maria Carlenise Paiva de Alencar Moura,
Eduardo Lins de Barros Neto, and Alexandre Gurgel
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17. Contents xiii
Chapter 16 Nanoparticle Formation in Microemulsions: Mechanism
and Monte Carlo Simulations...................................................... 451
M. de Dios, F. Barroso, and C. Tojo
Chapter 17 Nanoparticle Uptake by (W/O) Microemulsions.........................465
Maen M. Husein and Nashaat N. Nassar
Chapter 18 TiO2 Nanoparticles in Microemulsion: Photophysical
Properties and Interfacial Electron Transfer Dynamics.............. 483
Hirendra N. Ghosh
Chapter 19 Microemulsions as Pseudostationary Phases in Electrokinetic
Chromatography: I. Estimation of Physicochemical
Parameters. II. Analysis of Drugs in Pharmaceutical
and Biofluidic Matrices ............................................................... 501
Valeria Tripodi and Silvia Lucangioli
Index................................................................................................................ 527
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19. Foreword
MICROEMULSIONS—A VITAL FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH AREA
MOVING RAPIDLY INTO APPLICATIONS WHILE HAVING
ITS SCIENTIFIC BASIS IN OTHER SURFACTANT
SELF-ASSEMBLY SYSTEMS
This book focuses on the properties and applications of microemulsions and, in
particular, on their interrelationship. Of late, microemulsions have become a pop-
ular subject and applications are emerging rapidly; this further stimulates the fun-
damental studies. Therefore, this book is very timely and I congratulate the editor,
Professor Monzer Fanun, for having prepared a volume with this focus and, in
particular, achieving this so well by assembling an impressive list of contributors;
this list is a good mix of established leading scientists and young colleagues enter-
ing the field recently as they will be the ones who will continue to develop our
research area.
The history of microemulsions has been full of ups and downs and has been
involved in many heated controversies. The name “microemulsions” itself has no
doubt contributed strongly to confusion. Microemulsions are not micro but nano
and are not emulsions. The history of microemulsion research is complex [1] and
needs to be recounted since it provides important lessons. Here I rather wish to
make a few comments from my experience with the evolution of microemulsion,
which have a direct bearing on this book and its relevance.
What is a microemulsion? This question was very much in focus when I first
came in contact with the field by the end of the 1960s and early 1970s. The very
fact that a question like this arises leads to considerable confusion and unneces-
sary work. Thus, had the true nature of microemulsions been understood, a resort
to the basic literature on surfactant self-assembly would have given logical expla-
nations to many observations.
Thirty years ago, when I had just been appointed to the chair of physical
chemistry at Lund University, Professor Ingvar Danielsson from Åbo Akademi in
Turku, Finland came for a sabbatical. Åbo Akademi was the world-famous institu-
tion for physical chemistry where the founder of the institution, Per Ekwall, along
with pupils such as Ingvar Danielsson, Krister Fontell, and Leo Mandell, had
developed much of our fundamental understanding of surfactant systems, including
micellization, phase behavior, and liquid crystallinity. On his retirement from
Åbo, Ekwall moved to Stockholm to found the Laboratory (later Institute) of
Surface Chemistry, while Danielsson took over his chair in Åbo. My first contacts
with surfactant science and much of my learning were with this Stockholm-Åbo
research community.
xv
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20. Having been concerned with aspects of surfactant aggregation on the macro-
scopic and aggregate levels, Danielsson took interest in a deeper molecular level
of understanding, using some novel nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)
approaches, which I had developed along with my colleagues in Lund.
These studies included microemulsions and, discussing the research results
and reading the literature, we became more and more concerned about the fact that
different authors had very different opinions on microemulsions. (It is interesting
that Ekwall and Fontell refused to use this term even though they were behind
some of the pioneering and still central observations on microemulsions. Since
the term referred to thermodynamically stable solutions, they found it a misno-
mer.) Therefore, we found it timely to suggest a definition of microemulsion as
the following: A microemulsion is a system of water, oil, and amphiphile, which
is a single optically isotropic and thermodynamically stable liquid solution [2].
We also gave several examples of what we considered should be included in
microemulsions and what should not.
Looking into the contents of this book, and contemplating Monzer’s invita-
tion to write this foreword, I found it of interest to examine a little the accep-
tance of our definition among colleagues. While having a general impression
that, after a quite long period of questioning, it became more and more accepted,
I found it of interest to examine this further by a citation analysis. Our short note
is certainly not a significant scientific contribution, but it is quite well cited (and
is in fact among my 10 most cited papers). However, the citations show a very
unusual variation over time, the distribution being pronouncedly “bimodal.” In the
first years after publication, there is quite a constant modest citation frequency.
Thereafter, there is a very pronounced peak in 1989, indicating that this is the year
that a more general acceptance was obtained. Afterwards, citations decrease
strongly and one would have expected that the paper would as usual start to
become forgotten. However, a few years ago, citations started to increase in
number again and, from the citations during the first half of 2008, we can guess
that this year will give the largest number of citations so far. Why is that so? Some
clue can be obtained from the field of the journals where the paper is cited. Thus
in 1989, most citations were in journals that focused more on physical and colloid
chemistry. The pattern is very different in 2008. A majority of the citations are in
journals dealing with more applied aspects, in particular, in the pharmaceutical
sciences.
Is there any other evidence that microemulsions are now becoming better
understood in the applied sciences, like pharmaceutics? An indication can be
obtained by considering textbooks. A leading textbook in pharmacy is Physico-
chemical Principles of Pharmacy by A. T. Florence and D. Attwood [3]. Both the
placing of microemulsions in the book and the text devoted to this topic reveal that
even in 1998, when the third edition was published, microemulsions had received
very little attention in the pharmaceutical field and that, furthermore, the nature of
microemulsions was misunderstood. Thus, while there were lengthy multipage
descriptions of surfactant micellization, liquid crystallinity, vesicles, and solubi-
lization, microemulsions were dealt with in a mere seven line paragraph starting
xvi Foreword
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21. Foreword xvii
“Microemulsions, or so-called swollen micellar systems, consist of apparently
homogeneous transparent systems of low viscosity which contain a high percent-
age of both oil and water and high concentrations (15%–25%) of emulsifier
mixture.” The misconception of microemulsions in the pharmaceutical field is
accentuated by the fact that rather than being placed together with other thermo-
dynamically stable surfactant self-assembly systems, it is considered as a type of
dispersion and placed under the general heading “Emulsions, Suspensions, and
Other Dispersions.” It is indicated from the citation analysis mentioned that if a
corresponding textbook is prepared today, microemulsions would receive much
more attention and would be properly classified and treated in conjunction with
related surfactant systems, like micelles and liquid crystals, as they have indeed
been in textbooks of physical chemistry and colloid chemistry for a long time.
This book contains significant contributions regarding the applications of
microemulsions for pharmaceutical formulations, as well as for other applications,
and will no doubt help considerably to provide an excellent basis for applications
into new fields.
Regarding the long-standing issue of the confusion of treating microemulsions
as one type of emulsion, Chapter 7 by Otto Glatter and coauthors, dealing with
emulsified microemulsions, is particularly enlightening as it clearly hints to this
misconception.
Stig Friberg was certainly the pioneer who demonstrated that microemulsions
are indeed thermodynamically stable solutions and, therefore, should be described
by phase diagrams with respect to their stability. The significance of his work on
the phase behavior of surfactant–oil–water systems for the development of the
microemulsion field cannot be overestimated and it is indeed very appropriate that
he was invited to write the first chapter of this book. I was myself very fortunate to
have early contacts with Stig Friberg. In addition, I was strongly influenced and
helped by the phase diagram work of two other pioneers in the field, Per Ekwall,
already mentioned above, and Kozo Shinoda in Yokohama.
Several of my collaborations with Friberg, Shinoda, and Ekwall concerned
microemulsion microstructure, where they provided enlightening systems for
structural investigation and deep insight into the subject.
I consider my most important contribution to the field of microemulsion as
being the first, together with coworkers, to demonstrate microemulsion bicontinu-
ity. However, this work also nicely demonstrates how important it is in microemul-
sionresearchtohaveabroaderperspective,inparticular considering other surfactant
phases.
My first study dealing with surfactant phase bicontinuity did not thus concern
microemulsions but cubic liquid crystalline phases. In preparing a chapter dealing
with applications of NMR for a book on Liquid Crystals and Plastic Crystals [4],
I became confused when I came to the cubic phases.As we know, cubic phases can
be located in different concentration ranges in a phase diagram, inter alia between
the micellar solutions and the normal hexagonal phase, and between the hexagonal
and the lamellar phases. I soon realized that the surfactant self-diffusion would be
very different for discrete aggregates and for connected structures. This would
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22. thus be an interesting possibility for solving the problem of the structure of cubic
liquid crystalline phases. A few experiments with a postdoctoral fellow, Tom Bull,
at the new pulsed NMR spectrometer, giving differences in surfactant diffusion by
orders of magnitude between the two cubic phases, could directly prove that one
was built up of discrete micelles while the other was bicontinuous [5]. The cubic
phase, which is more dilute in surfactant, was thus found to be characterized by
very slow surfactant diffusion and thus must consist of (more or less stationary)
discrete aggregates. In the more concentrated cubic phase, surfactant diffusion
was found to be more than one order of magnitude faster. This rather surprising
finding could only be understood if the surfactant molecules could diffuse freely
over macroscopic distances; thus surfactant aggregates are connected.
The distinction between discrete “droplet” structures and bicontinuous ones
became central in the subsequent studies on microemulsions in Lund [6–12]. This
research topic became even more emphasized when Peter Stilbs introduced the
Fourier transform version of the NMR technique [13–16].
That surfactant self-assembly systems, which include liquid crystalline phases
and isotropic solutions, can be divided into those that have discrete self-assembly
aggregates and those where the aggregates are connected in one, two, or three
dimensions was very clear for the pioneers of the microemulsion field mentioned
above. Regarding lamellar phases, the two-dimensional connectivity was already
appreciated at a very early stage. The same holds true for the (“normal” and
“reverse”) hexagonal phases, although erroneous models of linearly associated
spherical micelles, “pearls-on-a-string,” can be found in the literature; such a
linear association was also, again incorrectly, advanced to explain droplet growth
in microemulsions. The general acceptance of connectivity for these anisotropic
phases stood in sharp contrast to a great difficulty to get an acceptance for bicontinu-
ity for other phases. This is partly related to the fact that contrary to these anisotro-
pic phases, it has been much more difficult to structurally characterize the different
isotropic phases found in simple and complex surfactant systems: cubic liquid
crystals, solutions in binary surfactant–water systems, and microemulsions. The
first verification was due to observations of molecular self-diffusion over macro-
scopic distances. Electrical conductivity offers a partial insight in providing infor-
mation on the extension of aqueous domains. Fluorescence quenching can provide
information on the growth of nonpolar domains, but a probe has to be introduced.
Later cryogenic transmission electron microscopy has developed into a very impor-
tant tool for imaging different surfactant phases.
Using a similar approach as for cubic phases, it was thus quite straightforward
to address the problem of microemulsion structure. Thus, by measuring oil and
water self-diffusion, it was quite easy to establish whether oil or water or none of
them are confined to discrete domains, “droplets.” In the first work on microemul-
sion structure by self-diffusion, using both tracer techniques and NMR spin-echo
measurements, it was clearly shown that, in addition to droplet microemulsions,
over wide ranges of composition they can be bicontinuous [6]; this is manifested
by both oil and water diffusion being rapid, not much less than the self-diffusion
of the neat liquids.
xviii Foreword
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23. Foreword xix
The self-diffusion approach to microstructure is not limited to cubic phases or
microemulsions. An early study concerned the demonstration of micellar growth
into worm-like structures for nonionic surfactants [17,18]. Parallel pioneering
studies on phase behavior of nonionic surfactants by Gordon Tiddy [19] also illus-
trated the same feature. Another problem, soon to be tackled, was that of the
microstructure of the “sponge phases,” a “microemulsion analogue,” for binary
surfactant systems, termed L3 by Ekwall (and identified by him in a number of
systems). While isotropic solutions in simple surfactant–water mixtures were for
a long time considered synonymous with solutions of discrete surfactant micelles,
there were indications of a more complex situation given by the clouding and phase
separation into two solutions of nonionic surfactants at elevated temperature. Here
self-diffusion was again expected to provide the solution [19,20]. For the sponge
phase, water diffusion was much reduced compared to classical micellar solu-
tions. In fact, it was close to 2/3 of the value of neat water. The surfactant diffusion
was, on the other hand, found to be much more rapid, and close to 2/3 of the dif-
fusion of the neat liquid surfactant, than what was observed for previously studied
micellar solutions. The solutions are thus bicontinuous. These systems are perfect
illustrations of bicontinuity and in many respects useful models of bicontinuous
microemulsions. Both the water and surfactant self-diffusion coefficients are close
to 2/3 of the values of the neat liquids, corresponding to an ideal zero mean curva-
ture bicontinuous structure.
While I have illustrated here, with some examples from our own research,
how progress in our understanding has been dependent on understanding alterna-
tive surfactant phases, this approach is certainly not unique. Several pioneers like
Friberg, Ekwall, Shinoda, Tiddy, Scriven, and Wennerström, have provided beau-
tiful examples of such a “holistic” view. It is my firm belief that in the ongoing expan-
sion of the microemulsion field, that the present book emphasizes and supports a
broader look into surfactant self-assembly and a resort to simpler surfactant sys-
tems are mandatory.
Björn Lindman
Coimbra University and Lund University
REFERENCES
1. Lindman, B.; Friberg, S. Microemulsions—a historical overview. In Handbook of
Microemulsion Science and Technology, P. Kumar and K. L. Mittal, eds. Marcel
Dekker, New York, 1999, pp. 1–12.
2. Danielsson, I.; Lindman, B. The definition of microemulsion. Colloids Surfaces 3,
1981, 391–392.
3. Florence, A.T; Attwood, D. Physicochemical Principles of Pharmacy, 3rd edn,
Pharmaceutical Press, London, 1998.
4. Johansson, Å.; Lindman, B. In Liquid Crystals and Plastic Crystals, Nuclear Magnetic
Resonance Spectroscopy of Liquid Crystals-Amphiphilic Systems, G.W. Gray and P. A.
Winsor, eds. Ellis Horwood Publishers, Chichester, 1974, Vol. 2, pp. 192–230.
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24. 5. Bull, T.; Lindman, B. Amphiphile diffusion in cubic lyotropic mesophases. Mol.
Cryst. Liquid Cryst. 28, 1975, 155–160.
6. Lindman, B.; Kamenka, N.; Kathopoulis, T.M.; Brun, B.; Nilsson, P.G. Translational
diffusion and solution structure of microemulsions. J. Phys. Chem. 84, 1980,
2485–2490.
7. Nilsson, P. G.; Lindman, B. Solution structure of nonionic surfactant microemul-
sions from NMR self-diffusion studies. J. Phys. Chem. 86, 1982, 271–279.
8. Guéring, P.; Lindman, B. Droplet and bicontinuous structures in cosurfactant micro-
emulsions from multi-component self-diffusion measurements. Langmuir 1, 1985,
464–468.
9. Olsson, U.; Shinoda, K.; Lindman, B. Change of the structure of microemulsions with
the HLB of nonionic surfactant as revealed by NMR self-diffusion studies. J. Phys.
Chem. 90, 1986, 4083–4088.
10. Lindman, B.; Shinoda, K.; Olsson, U.; Anderson, D.; Karlström, G.; Wennerström,
H. On the demonstration of bicontinuous structures in microemulsions. Colloids
Surfaces 38, 1989, 205–224.
11. Lindman, B.; Olsson, U. Structure of microemulsions studied by NMR Ber. Bunsen-
ges. Phys. Chem. 100, 1996, 344–363.
12. Shinoda, K.; Lindman, B. Organized surfactant systems: Microemulsions. Lang-
muir 3, 1987, 135–149.
13. Stilbs, P.; Moseley, M. E. Nuclear spin-echo experiments on standard Fourier-trans-
form NMR spectrometers—Application to multi-component self-diffusion studies.
Chem. Scripta 13, 1979, 26–28.
14. Stilbs, P. Prog. Fourier transform pulsed-gradient spin-echo studies of molecular
diffusion. NMR Spectrosc. 19, 1987, 1–45.
15. Stilbs, P.; Moseley, M. E.; Lindman, B. Fourier transform NMR self-diffusion mea-
surements on microemulsions. J. Magn. Reson. 40, 1980, 401–404.
16. Lindman, B.; Stilbs, P.; Moseley, M. E. Fourier transform NMR self-diffusion and
microemulsion structure. J. Colloid Interface Sci. 83, 1981, 569–582.
17. Nilsson, P. G.; Wennerström, H.; Lindman, B. Structure of micellar solutions of
nonionic surfactants. NMR self-diffusion and proton relaxation studies of
poly(ethyleneoxide) alkylethers. J. Phys. Chem. 87, 1983, 1377–1385.
18. Lindman, B.; Wennerström, H. Nonionic micelles grow with increasing tempera-
ture. J. Phys. Chem. 95, 1991, 6053–6054.
19. Mitchell, D. J.; Tiddy, G. J. T.; Waring, L.; Bostock, T.; McDonald, M. P. J. Phase
behaviour of polyoxyethylene surfactants with water. Mesophase structures and
partial miscibility (cloud points). Chem. Soc. Faraday Trans. 79, 1983, 975–1000.
20. Nilsson, P. G.; Lindman, B. Nuclear magnetic resonance self-diffusion and proton
relaxation studies of nonionic surfactant solutions. Aggregate shape in isotropic
solutions above the clouding temperature. J. Phys. Chem. 88, 1984, 4764–4769.
21. Lindman, B.; Olsson, U.; Stilbs, P.; Wennerström, H. Comment on the self-diffusion
in L3 and other bicontinuous surfactant solutions. Langmuir 9, 1993, 625–626.
xx Foreword
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25. xxi
Preface
Microemulsions are microheterogeneous, thermodynamically stable, sponta-
neously formed mixtures of oil and water under certain conditions by means
of surfactants, with or without the aid of a cosurfactant. The first paper on
microemulsions appeared in 1943 by Hoar et al., but it was Schulman and
coworkers who first proposed the word “microemulsion” in 1959. Since then, the
term “microemulsions” has been used to describe multicomponent systems
comprising nonpolar, aqueous, surfactant, and cosurfactant components. The
application areas of microemulsions have increased dramatically during the
past decades. For example, the major industrial areas are fabricating nanopar-
ticles, oil recovery, pollution control, and food and pharmaceutical industries.
This book is a comprehensive reference that provides a complete and system-
atic assessment of all topics affecting microemulsion performance, discussing
the fundamental characteristics, theories, and applications of these dispersions
that have been developed over the last decade.
The book opens with a chapter that describes a phase diagram approach to
microemulsions by two leading authorities (Friberg and Aikens) who have con-
tributed significantly to the field of microemulsions. In the next three chapters, Moulik
and Rakshit, Mehta and coworkers, and Mejuto and coworkers, respectively,
advance different approaches to describe the percolation phenomenon in microe-
mulsion systems. Theories that predict droplet clustering along with the basic
conditions required for the formation and stability of these reverse micellar systems
and the composition, temperature, and pressure-dependent conductance percolation
and energetics of droplet clustering are reviewed. The influence of different additives
on the conductance percolation of ionic microemulsions is also reviewed.
Significant progress has been made in the formulation and characterization
of new microemulsion systems. Properties of microemulsions with mixed non-
ionic surfactants and different types of oils are reviewed in Chapter 5 by Fanun.
A comprehensive review on the influence of various simple alcohols on the
internal structural organization of microemulsion systems is presented in
Chapter 6 by Tomšič and Jamnik. Chapter 7 by Glatter and coworkers focuses
on the effect of variations in temperature and solubilizing oil on the formation
and the reversible structural transitions of emulsified microemulsions that have
excellent potential in applications such as nanoreactors or host systems for
solubilizing active molecules in cosmetic, pharmaceutical, and food industries.
The interaction of water with room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) has been
studied in RTIL/surfactant/water-containing ternary microemulsions by solvent
and rotational relaxation of neutral Coumarin probes, namely Coumarin 153
and Coumarin 151, using steady-state and picosecond time-resolved emission
spectroscopy, reviewed by Seth and Sarkar in Chapter 8.
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26. xxii Preface
Microemulsions accommodate poorly soluble drugs (both hydrophilic and
lipophilic) and protect those that are vulnerable to chemical and enzymatic deg-
radation. They have the potential to increase the solubility of poorly soluble
drugs, enhance the bioavailability of drugs with poor permeability, reduce
patient variability, and offer an alternative for controlled drug release. In Chap-
ter 9, Alany and coworkers review the formulation and characterization of
microemulsions intended for drug delivery applications. Recent investigations
on pharmaceutically applicable microemulsions are described in Chapter 10 by
Gašperlin and Bešter-Rogač. The use of emulsions and microemulsions as a
delivery system for cancer therapy is described in Chapter 11 by Karasulu
and coworkers.
Enzymes when hosted in reverse micelles can catalyze reactions that are
not favored in aqueous media. Products of high-added value can be thus pro-
duced in these media. The potential technical and commercial applications of
enzyme-containing microemulsions as microreactors are mainly linked to
their unique physicochemical properties. The potential biotechnological
applications of microemulsions with immobilized biocatalysts such as
enzymes are described in Chapter 12 by Kunz and coworkers and in Chapter
13 by Xenakis and coworkers.
Great efforts have been made in order to replace established but harmful,
corrosive, and therefore, obsolete decontamination media for chemical warfare
agents and toxic industrial chemicals. Chapter 14 by Hellweg and coworkers
discusses the considerable advantages of microemulsion-based decontamination
systems with respect to practical boundary conditions and fundamental princi-
ples of microemulsion formation. Additionally, the authors illustrate the further
development to versatile, environmentally compatible and nonharmful systems
containing nanoparticles and enzymes as active components.
Several segments of the petroleum industry can be optimized with the use of
microemulsions. Research has been carried out on potential microemulsified for-
mulations for compression-ignition, cycle-diesel engines, which, in spite of bring-
ing about a slight increase in consumption, produce less polluting emissions. In
Chapter 15, Dantas Neto and coworkers summarize recent advances in microe-
mulsions in this type of industry.
Microemulsions can be considered as true nanoreactors, which can be used to
synthesize nanomaterials. The main idea behind this technique is that by appropriate
control of the synthesis parameters one can use these nanoreactors to produce
tailor-made products down to a nanoscale level. Chapter 16 by Tojo and coworkers
describes the use of Monte Carlo simulations to study the influence of the critical
nucleus size and the chemical reaction rate on the formation of nanoparticles in micro-
emulsions. Chapter 17 by Husein and Nassar focuses on exploring ways of maximizing
the concentration of stable colloidal nanoparticles, nanoparticle uptake, in single (w/o)
microemulsions. Chapter 18 by Ghosh describes the photophysical and interfacial
electron transfer behavior of anatase TiO2 nanoparticles in microemulsions.
Capillary electrophoresis is a powerful technique with relevant features of
performance such as simplicity, versatility, very high resolution in short time
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27. Preface xxiii
of analysis, and low cost of operation. The final chapter by Tripodi and Lucangioli
describes the use of microemulsions in capillary electrophoresis as pseudostationary
phases in the electrokinetic chromatography mode. This method has extensive
applications in different fields of pharmaceutical analysis for the determination
of drugs and their impurities in bulk material and pharmaceutical formulations
for the dosage of drugs in biological fluids.
In quintessence, this book represents the collective knowledge of young and
renowned researchers and engineers in the field of microemulsions. This book
covers recent advances in the characterization of the properties of microemulsions;
it covers new types of materials used for the formulation and stabilization of
microemulsions, and it also covers new applications. An important feature of this
book is that the author of each chapter has been given the freedom to present, as
he/she sees fit, the spectrum of the relevant science, from pure to applied, in his/her
particular topic. Of course this approach inevitably leads to some overlap and
repetition in different chapters, but that does not necessarily matter. Any author
has his/her own views on, and approach to, a specific topic, molded by his/her
own experience. I hope that this book will familiarize the reader with the scientific
and engineering aspects of microemulsions, and provides experienced researchers,
scientists, and engineers in academic and industry communities with the latest
developments in this field.
I would like to thank all those who contributed as chapter authors despite
their busy schedules. In total, 52 individuals from 15 countries contributed to the
work. All of them are recognized and respected experts in the areas they wrote
about. None of them is associated with any errors or omissions that remain. I take full
responsibility. Special thanks are due to the reviewers for their valuable comments as
peer review is a requirement to preserve the highest standard of publication. My
appreciation goes to Barbara Glunn of Taylor & Francis for her genuine interest
in this project.
Monzer Fanun
Associate Professor
Al-Quds University
East Jerusalem, Palestine
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29. xxv
Editor
Monzer Fanun is a professor in surface and colloid science, the head of the
Colloids and Surfaces Research Laboratory, and a member of the Nanotechnology
Research Group atAl-Quds University, East Jerusalem, Palestine. He has authored
and coauthored more than 40 professional papers. He is a member of the European
Colloid and Interface Society and a fellow of the Palestinian Academy for Science
and Technology. In 2003, he received his PhD in applied chemistry from the Casali
Institute of Applied Chemistry a part of the Institute of Chemistry at the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem, Israel.
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31. xxvii
Contributors
Patricia A. Aikens
BASF Corp.
Stony Brook, New York
Raid G. Alany
School of Pharmacy
University of Auckland
Auckland, New Zealand
Maria Carlenise Paiva de
Alencar Moura
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande
do Norte Centro de Tecnologia
Departamento de Engenharia Química
UFRN—Federal University
of Rio Grande do Norte
Chemical Engineering Department
Campus Universitário
Natal, Brazil
Levent Alparslan
Department of Biopharmaceutics
and Pharmacokinetics
Faculty of Pharmacy
University of Ege
Izmir, Turkey
and
Center for Drug R&D and
Pharmacokinetic Applications
University of Ege
Izmir, Turkey
Hans-Juergen Altmann
Armed Forces Scientific Institute
for NBC Protection
Munster, Germany
Eduardo Lins de Barros Neto
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande
do Norte Centro de Tecnologia
Departamento de Engenharia Química
UFRN—Federal University
of Rio Grande do Norte
Chemical Engineering Department
Campus Universitário
Natal, Brazil
F. Barroso
Department of Physical Chemistry
Faculty of Chemistry
University of Vigo
Vigo, Spain
Pierre Bauduin
Institut de Chimie Séparative de
Marcoule
Bagnols-sur-Cèze, France
Marija Bešter-Rogač
Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical
Technology
University of Ljubljana
Ljubljana, Slovenia
K. K. Bhasin
Department of Chemistry and Center
of Advanced Studies
in Chemistry
Panjab University
Chandigarh, Panjab, India
Liliana de Campo
Department of Applied Mathematics
The Australian National University
Canberra, New South Wales,
Australia
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32. xxviii Contributors
Tereza Neuma de Castro Dantas
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande
do Norte Centro de Ciências
Exatas e da Terra
Departamento de Química
UFRN—Federal University
of Rio Grande do Norte
Chemistry Department
Campus Universitário
Natal, Brazil
A. Cid
Department of Physical Chemistry
Faculty of Sciences
University of Vigo at Ourense
Ourense, Spain
Afonso Avelino Dantas Neto
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande
do Norte Centro de Tecnologia
Departamento de Engenharia Química
UFRN—Federal University
of Rio Grande do Norte
Chemical Engineering Department
Campus Universitário
Natal, Brazil
M. de Dios
Department of Physical Chemistry
Faculty of Chemistry
University of Vigo
Vigo, Spain
Gamal M. M. El Maghraby
Department of Pharmaceutics
King Saud University
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Monzer Fanun
Faculty of Science
and Technology
Al-Quds University
East Jerusalem, Palestine
Stig E. Friberg
Chemistry Department
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia
L. García-Río
Departamento de Química-Física
Facultad de Química
Universidad de Santiago de
Compostela
Santiago de Compostela,
Spain
Mirjana Gašperlin
Faculty of Pharmacy
University of Ljubljana
Ljubljana, Slovenia
Hirendra N. Ghosh
Radiation and Photochemistry
Division
Bhabha Atomic Research
Center
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Otto Glatter
Institute of Chemistry
University of Graz
Graz, Austria
D. Gómez-Díaz
Departamento de Ingeniería
Química
Escuela Técnica Superior
Universidad de Santiago de
Compostela
Santiago de Compostela,
Spain
Anja Graf
School of Pharmacy
University of Otago
Dunedin, New Zealand
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33. Contributors xxix
Alexandre Gurgel
Universidade Federal de Viçosa
Centro de Ciências Exatas e
Tecnológicas
Departamento de Química
UFV—Federal University of Viçosa
Chemistry Department
Campus Universitário
Viçosa, Brazil
Thomas Hellweg
Physical Chemistry I
University of Bayreuth
Bayreuth, Germany
Maen M. Husein
Department of Chemical and
Petroleum Engineering
University of Calgary
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Andrej Jamnik
Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical
Technology
University of Ljubljana
Ljubljana, Slovenia
Burçak Karaca
Department of Medical Oncology
School of Medicine
University of Ege
Izmir, Turkey
Ercüment Karasulu
Department of Biopharmaceutics
and Pharmacokinetics
Faculty of Pharmacy
University of Ege
Izmir, Turkey
and
Center for Drug R&D and
Pharmacokinetic Applications
University of Ege
Izmir, Turkey
H. Yesim Karasulu
Department of Pharmaceutical
Technology
Faculty of Pharmacy
University of Ege
Izmir, Turkey
Gurpreet Kaur
Department of Chemistry and Center
of Advanced Studies
in Chemistry
Panjab University
Chandigarh, Panjab, India
Khushwinder Kaur
Department of Chemistry and Center
of Advanced Studies
in Chemistry
Panjab University
Chandigarh, Panjab, India
F. N. Kolisis
Institute of Biological Research
and Biotechnology
National Hellenic Research
Foundation
Athens, Greece
and
School of Chemical
Engineering
National Technical University
of Athens
Athens, Greece
Karen Krauel-Goellner
Institute of Food Nutrition
and Human Health
Wellington, New Zealand
Werner Kunz
Institute of Physical and Theoretical
Chemistry
University of Regensburg
Regensburg, Germany
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34. xxx Contributors
Silvia Lucangioli
Analytical Chemistry and
Physicochemistry Department
Faculty of Pharmacy and
Biochemistry
University of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires, Argentina
S. K. Mehta
Department of Chemistry and Center
of Advanced Studies
in Chemistry
Panjab University
Chandigarh, Panjab, India
J. C. Mejuto
Department of Physical Chemistry
Faculty of Sciences
University of Vigo at Ourense
Ourense, Spain
Satya Priya Moulik
Center for Surface Science
Department of Chemistry
Jadavpur University
Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Nashaat N. Nassar
Department of Chemical and
Petroleum Engineering
University of Calgary
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
V. Papadimitriou
Institute of Biological Research
and Biotechnology
National Hellenic Research
Foundation
Athens, Greece
Animesh Kumar Rakshit
Department of Natural Sciences
West Bengal University
of Technology
Kolkata, West Bengal, India
André Richardt
Armed Forces Scientific Institute
for NBC Protection
Munster, Germany
Nilmoni Sarkar
Department of Chemistry
Indian Institute of Technology
Kharagpur, West Bengal, India
Debabrata Seth
Department of Chemistry
Indian Institute of Technology
Kharagpur, West Bengal, India
H. Stamatis
Biological Applications and
Technologies Department
University of Ioannina
Ioannina, Greece
C. Tojo
Department of Physical Chemistry
Faculty of Chemistry
University of Vigo
Vigo, Spain
Matija Tomšič
Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical
Technology
University of Ljubljana
Ljubljana, Slovenia
Didier Touraud
Institute of Physical and Theoretical
Chemistry
University of Regensburg
Regensburg, Germany
Valeria Tripodi
Analytical Chemistry and
Physicochemistry Department
Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry
University of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires, Argentina
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35. Contributors xxxi
Stefan Wellert
Physical Chemistry I
University of Bayreuth
Bayreuth, Germany
A. Xenakis
Institute of Biological Research and
Biotechnology
National Hellenic Research
Foundation
Athens, Greece
Anan Yaghmur
Institute of Biophysics and
Nanosystems Research
Austrian Academy
of Sciences
Graz, Austria
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37. 1
1 A Phase Diagram
Approach to
Microemulsions
Stig E. Friberg and Patricia A. Aikens
CONTENTS
1.1 Introduction..................................................................................................1
1.2 Discussion ....................................................................................................2
1.2.1 Ordering–Disordering.......................................................................2
1.2.2 Temperature Dependence .................................................................7
1.2.3 Vapor Composition from Microemulsions ..................................... 10
1.3 Conclusion.................................................................................................. 14
Symbols and Terminologies................................................................................ 14
References........................................................................................................... 14
1.1 INTRODUCTION
The phase diagram approach to microemulsions was introduced decades ago by
Gillberg and collaborators [1]. At that time, it was not well received by the
researchers in the area, because it emphasized that microemulsions are in fact
micellar systems and the traditionally simplified thermodynamic treatment was
very much in vogue at that time. Unfortunately, the ensuing arguments about the
“true structure of microemulsions” shrouded the advantage of the approach, and it
was only after the Israelachvili–Ninham analysis of the thermodynamics of such
systems [2] that attention could be directed to the essential features of the phase
diagram approach. A brief history of the development has been given by Lindman
and Friberg [3].
In the following sections, the phase diagram approach will be applied to three
attributes of microemulsions: (a) the importance of ordering versus disordering,
(b) the temperature dependence of the behavior of microemulsions stabilized by
polyethylene glycol adduct surfactants, and (c) the use of phase diagrams to obtain
information on the composition of the vapor leaving microemulsion during its
evaporation.
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38. 2 Microemulsions: Properties and Applications
1.2 DISCUSSION
1.2.1 ORDERING–DISORDERING
The phase diagrams of microemulsions have traditionally been presented in two
ways. The original one was built on the results of Ekwall on the association
structures of amphiphilic systems [4] and was based on the associations in the
water–surfactant combination. According to this approach, the development of
the microemulsion structures was a result of the structural modifications brought
about by the addition of less hydrophilic amphiphiles such as alcohols. The hydro-
carbons in the microemulsions were considered solubilizates in this methodology
and their effect on the structure was considered to be of secondary importance.
The approach was very successful for W/O microemulsions, providing a simple
tool for their formulation. A generic diagram is given in Figure 1.1.
The essential feature of importance for the microemulsion is the fact that the
inverse micellar solution and the aqueous solution of normal micelles are not in
mutual equilibrium except for extremely low-surfactant concentrations. For
higher-surfactant concentrations, the equilibrium is with the liquid crystalline
phase. As a consequence, the transition from the normal micelles to inverse
micelles (Figure 1.2) does not happen directly, but through a lamellar liquid
crystal (Figure 1.3).
W/O microemulsions stabilized by an ionic surfactant also employ a less
hydrophilic amphiphile, which is known as the cosurfactant. The original cosur-
factants were alcohols [5] and Gillberg realized early on [1] that W/O microemul-
sions were obtained simply by adding a hydrocarbon to Ekwall’s inverse micellar
solution (Figure 1.4). Addition of the hydrocarbon does not imply significant
FIGURE 1.1 Partial generic phase diagram of a system water (W), surfactant (S), and
medium chain length alcohol (A). (Adapted from Ekwall, P., in Advances in Liquid Crystals,
Brown, G.H. (Ed.), Academic Press, New York, 1975, pp. 1–139. With permission.)
A
S
W
MS
LLC
IMS
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39. A Phase Diagram Approach to Microemulsions 3
FIGURE 1.2 In the aqueous solution micelle (left), the surfactant polar groups are orga-
nized toward the surrounding water, while the hydrocarbon chains are inside the micelle.
In an inverse micelle (right), the organization is opposite.
Water
Aqueous micelle
Inverse micelle
FIGURE 1.3 In a lamellar liquid crystal, water layers are separated by mirrored bilayers
of surfactant.
FIGURE 1.4 Addition of hydrocarbon to the inverse micellar solution (solid line)
(Figure 1.1) gives a W/O microemulsion (hatched line).
A/H
S
W
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40. 4 Microemulsions: Properties and Applications
structure changes [6] and the W/O microemulsions were hence described as
inverse micellar solutions. The approach was initially not received well by
Schulman’s successors [7], and it is remarkable that Schulman’s initial publica-
tion on the concept described these microemulsions as colloid solutions. The term
“microemulsion” was coined much later [8].
The application of Ekwall’s presentation of phase diagrams offers several
advantages. First, it provides an explanation of the fact that when the capacity to
include water in a W/O microemulsion is exceeded, the phase appearing is not an
aqueous liquid, but a lamellar liquid crystal. Secondly, it provides immediate clar-
ification of the role of the cosurfactant. As demonstrated in Figure 1.5, the effec-
tiveness of the cosurfactant depends decisively on its chain length. The difference
in the sizes of the W/O microemulsion regions in Figure 1.5 demonstrates that
decanol is far less useful as a cosurfactant than pentanol (if it is even useful at all).
The explanation for this fact is not, as it may appear at a first glance, the difference
in the stability of the inverse micelles; it rests with the fact that the shorter pentanol
chain destabilizes the lamellar liquid crystal by disordering it, and so as a result,
increasing the area for the inverse micellar solution.
Following this approach, it would be logical to use butanol as a cosurfactant
instead of pentanol, because its isotropic liquid region now expands continuously
to the water corner (Figure 1.6).
This large continuous isotropic liquid region at first appears highly appealing,
but effective utilization of shorter chain length alcohols as cosurfactants is coun-
tered by another factor. Butanol certainly destabilizes the lamellar liquid crystal
efficiently (Figure 1.6), but when the hydrocarbon is added to form the micro-
emulsion, the butanol is too water soluble and does not reach and reside at the oil/
water interface sufficiently. As a result, the system forms two separate phases: a
traditional macroemulsion of oil and water.
C5OH
C10OH
CnOH
S
W
FIGURE 1.5 Comparison of the inverse micellar liquid areas for systems with pentanol
and decanol.
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41. A Phase Diagram Approach to Microemulsions 5
The importance of the disordering action of the cosurfactant is confirmed by
a later publication concerning O/W microemulsions [9]. In this case, the pentanol
per se did not provide sufficient disordering effect as demonstrated by the features
in Figure 1.7.
The insufficient disordering is illustrated by the fact that the decane solubili-
zation is limited and by the solubility gap along the sodium dodecyl sulfate
(SDS)/W–C5OH axis. The latter is caused by the lamellar liquid crystal between
the aqueous and pentanol solution (Figure 1.8).
The addition of a hydrotrope, a more water soluble molecule with disordering
action, supplemented the disordering and the liquid crystal range along the SDS/
W–C5OH axis disappeared (Figure 1.9) resulting in an excellent microemulsion
area [10].
FIGURE 1.6 Isotropic liquid area for a system with butanol.
C4OH
Isotropic
liquid
S
W
FIGURE 1.7 Isotropic liquid in the partial phase diagram of decane, n-C10, pentanol,
C5OH, and a solution of 15% SDS, in water. The liquid structure passes from an O/W
microemulsion to a W/O one through a bicontinuous structure without a phase separation.
SDS/W
15/85
I II
O/W
microemulsion
W/O
microemulsion
Bicontinuous
microemulsion
N-C10
n-C5OH
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42. 6 Microemulsions: Properties and Applications
The surfactant in this system is ionic, and hence salt has a similar action
[11]. The ultimate extension of this action is amply exemplified in the early
publications from the field of microemulsion-assisted petroleum recovery
[12].
The phase diagram approach to microemulsions following Ekwall [1] is
characterized by a section through the three-dimensional diagram according to
Figure 1.10a. Alternative publications with different sectioning (Figure 1.10b)
have also gained popularity [13]. Both these presentations are useful; the second
one suffers from the disadvantage of not catching the strong variation in the areas
with the surfactant/cosurfactant ratio as accentuated by Figure 1.8.
FIGURE 1.8 Part of the phase diagram water (W), SDS, and pentanol (C5OH). The areas
named microemulsions in this Figure 1.4 were called micellar solutions in Ekwall’s
terminology (From Ekwall, P., in Advances in Liquid Crystals, Brown, G.H. (Ed.), Academic
Press, New York, 1975, pp. 1–139. With permission.)
SDS
W
Bicontinuous
microemulsion
Lamellar
liquid
crystal
C5OH
W/O
microemulsion
O/W
microemulsion
FIGURE 1.9 Microemulsion region in the system water/SDS/sodium xylene sulfonate,
W/SDS/SXS, pentanol, C5OH, and decane, C10.
C5OH
C10
W/SDS/SXS
80.9/14.3/4.8
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43. A Phase Diagram Approach to Microemulsions 7
1.2.2 TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
It is seen above that the areas for microemulsions stabilized by ionic surfactants are
decisively dependent on the structure of the cosurfactant to cause the necessary
disorder in the system. Microemulsions stabilized by polyethylene glycol adduct
nonionic surfactants, on the other hand, are characterized by the fact that
cosurfactant is not used. Instead, the areas of stability now rely on temperature (Figure
1.11) although the relation with the liquid crystal structure is still the essential
element [14].
The main theme of this dependence is illustrated in Figures 1.12 and 1.13
[15], which show the generic phase diagram for an alkyl ether surfactant with an
aliphatic hydrocarbon of a moderate length (approx. 12 carbons), and a short
polyethylene glycol chain (approx. 4 ethylene glycol units). First, the diagram is
characterized by a complete disparity of the solubility of the surfactant in water
FIGURE 1.10 Two main representations of the microemulsion pseudophase diagram.
The left depiction (a) is the Ekwall–Gillberg approach, which treats the hydrocarbon/
cosurfactant liquid as one component, while the right model (b) combines the surfactant
and cosurfactant into one component.
W S
Co-S
H
W S
Co-S
H
(b)
(a)
FIGURE 1.11 Phase equilibria for the system water (W), a polyethylene glycolalkyl ether (S)
and an aliphatic hydrocarbon (H). Low-temperature behavior is depicted in the upper
left-hand diagram, high-temperature features are depicted in the lower right-hand diagram.
W S
H
S
W
H
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44. 8 Microemulsions: Properties and Applications
and hydrocarbon with a moderate rise in temperature to 75°C.At lower temperature,
the solubility is restricted to water transitioning into an aqueous micellar solution,
followed by a lamellar liquid crystal, and finally an inverse micellar liquid with
increasing surfactant content. At a higher temperature, the surfactant solubility is
restricted entirely to the hydrocarbon, without any ordered structures.
W H.S.
H
FIGURE 1.12 Features of the system at the HLB temperature.
FIGURE 1.13 Three next stages after the state at left in Figure 1.11.
S
H
W
O/W
microemulsion
W
Internal
two-phase
W
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45. A Phase Diagram Approach to Microemulsions 9
In between these two temperature extremes, lies the hydrophilic–lipophilic
balance (HLB) temperature. Here, the aqueous micellar phase has disappeared or
is severely restricted (Figure 1.13), and a liquid phase is found instead at a water/
hydrocarbon ratio of approximately 1 with a moderate concentration of surfactant.
This liquid is a microemulsion with a bicontinuous structure.
From a phase diagram point of view, the development of the features from
those in the left-hand diagram of Figure 1.11 to those in Figure 1.12 is of interest
because of the rather intricate details of the equilibria. Figure 1.13 presents the
initial changes in greater detail.
The first development from the stage in the left-hand diagram of Figure
1.11 is that the hydrocarbon and the surfactant become mutually soluble and
the lamellar liquid crystal is extended toward high-hydrocarbon content. These
two areas remain approximately constant during the next stages. In the first of
these (top right, Figure 1.13), the micellar region along the water–surfactant
axis is limited with respect to the maximum water content. To reach the water
corner, a certain ratio of hydrocarbon to surfactant is required. The effect is
that a two-phase region is formed extending from the water corner. In the next
step (bottom right, Figure 1.13), the two regions are separated and the one
with highest hydrocarbon to surfactant ratio forms an O/W microemulsion,
which has the specific property of being infinitely dilutable with water. It
should be noted that the O/W microemulsions stabilized by an ionic surfactant
such as the one in Figure 1.9 cannot be diluted with water. Any such attempt
leads to phase separation and a macroemulsion is formed. The fact that there
is no equilibrium between the O/W microemulsion and the remnant of the
micellar solution is a remarkable feature in the diagram. Instead, the two
liquids are in equilibrium with pure water and with the lamellar liquid crystal.
Further progression toward the HLB temperature pattern in Figure 1.12 is
depicted in Figure 1.14.
Now the O/W microemulsion area is separated from the water corner, but forms
an unconnected phase in the water-rich part of the system. The ensuing phase
equilibria are depicted in the enlarged partial diagram on the left-hand side of
Figure 1.14. The complexity of the equilibrium conditions are well illustrated by the
FIGURE 1.14 Subsequent step to the configurations in Figure 1.13.
S
H
W W
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46. 10 Microemulsions: Properties and Applications
number of phases (MS, aqueous micellar solution; O/W, O/W microemulsion; LC,
liquid crystal; O, hydrocarbon–surfactant liquid) found when adding hydrocarbon
to an aqueous solution of surfactant less concentrated than the separated phase. The
sequence isW + MS →W + MS + LC →W + LC →W + LC + O/W →W + O/W →
W + O/W + O→W + O; an extraordinary number of seven combinations for surfactant
concentration less than that of any association structure phase.
The bicontinuous microemulsion region coalesces with the hydrocarbon–sur-
factant liquid area forming a W/O microemulsion region reaching toward greater
fractions of water. The surfactant–hydrocarbon ratio for maximum water solubiliza-
tion depends on the maximum solubilization of the hydrocarbon into the lamellar
liquid crystal. With increasing temperature, the solubilization capacity is reduced
and the maximum for water solubilization into the W/O microemulsion is shifted to
greater surfactant–hydrocarbon ratios. The final result of this trend is the system of
the hydrocarbon–surfactant liquid in equilibrium with water, in accordance with the
right part of Figure 1.11 (Figure 1.15E).
1.2.3 VAPOR COMPOSITION FROM MICROEMULSIONS
The recently introduced algebraic method to extract information from phase
diagrams [16] has been used to quantify evaporation from microemulsions [17].
The approach as such does not provide additional information to the experimentally
determined phase diagram, but introduces a system to illustrate the influence of
the relative humidity (RH) on the direction and volume of the evaporation and its
path that is not immediately available otherwise.
H
W H.S.
A
H
W H.S.
C
H
W H.S.
B
H
W H.S.
E
H
W H.S.
D
FIGURE 1.15 Subsequent patterns between that of the HLB temperature in Figure 1.12 and
the final appearance to the right in Figure 1.11. (Reproduced from Shinoda, K. and Friberg,
S.E., Emulsions and Solubilization, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1986.)
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47. A Phase Diagram Approach to Microemulsions 11
The method basically relates the changes in the composition of the liquid
phase to the composition of the released vapor. This information would not be of
practical value if the evaporation took place in completely dry air or in vacuum;
the difference in the composition of the liquid phase obviously equals the compo-
sition of the escaping vapor. In addition, if the evaporation were to take place
under conditions close to equilibrium, the partial vapor pressures could be utilized
to calculate the activities of the components in the liquid phase. Evaporation how-
ever, usually takes place into an atmosphere at a certain level of humidity and this
fact affects the interaction between the liquid phase and its vapor. This influence
is conveniently attended to using the algebraic approach as illustrated by an example
[17]. The system to be discussed consists of water (W), cosurfactant (C), and
surfactant (S) and is depicted in Figure 1.16.
The composition of the discharged vapor from a weight fraction composition
(W1, C1, and S1) is obtained from the tangent to the experimentally determined
evaporation path, which is given a function C(S).
1 1 1 1
)
( d /d
C C S S C S
= + − (1.1)
Setting S = 0, the composition of the released vapor (WV, CV, and 0) is found.
V 1 1 1 1
( / )
d d
C C S C S
= − (1.2)
and
V 1 1 1 1
1 d / )
d
(
W C S C S
= − + (1.3)
FIGURE 1.16 System used is the W/O microemulsion base in which the cosurfactant is a
volatile compound, illustrating the behavior of a hydrocarbon.
W S
C
Evaporation
composition
(W1, C1, and S1)
Composition of
released vapor
(Wv, 0, and Sv)
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48. 12 Microemulsions: Properties and Applications
This is the composition of the released vapor as obtained from experimental
results. These are inherently affected by the RH of the receiving atmosphere with
the actual vapor phase including the indigenous atmospheric water (WRH).
V 1 1 1 1 RH
1 d /
( )
d
W C S C S W
= − + + (1.4)
Realizing that the contribution from the released microemulsion vapor to the total
water in the vapor is proportional to its evaporation rate and assuming ideal
behavior of the vapor, the weight fractions of the two volatile compounds in the
released vapor become
V C C C C W W W
{ (
/[ Em) 0.01RH 0)}
( ]
C P M P M M P P
= + −
μ (1.5)
and
V W W W C C W W W
{ ( ( { (
Em) 0)}/[ Em) 0.01RH 0)}]
(
W M P P P M M P P
= μ − + μ − (1.6)
where
P is pressure
M is molecular weight
As a contrast the equilibrium values for the receiving atmosphere are
V C C C C W W
/[ ( Em)]
C P M P M M P
= + μ (1.7)
and
V W W C C W W
Em)/[
( Em)]
(
W M P P M M P
= μ + μ (1.8)
The combination of these equations with the phase diagram offers a great deal of
insight on the evaporation [17]. A few salient points will be examined here. At
first, the indigenous vapor pressure of water in the atmosphere will exceed the
vapor pressure from the microemulsion for sufficiently high values of RH. As a
consequence, the evaporation of water is now reversed; it is absorbed into the
microemulsion liquid, as quantified by the general relation of the ratio between
evaporating water and volatile organic compound, a first-order linear equation:
C C W W W C C
{ ( (
[ Em) 0.01RH 0)}]/
R P M M P P P M
= + μ − (1.9)
The reversal of direction happens when the RH exceeds the value obtained in
Equation 1.10:
W W
RH Em)/0.01 0
( )
(
P P
> μ (1.10)
Figure 1.17 illustrates this change of course in the phase diagram (negative CV).
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49. A Phase Diagram Approach to Microemulsions 13
With realistic values of the vapor pressures and the molecular weights,
such as
PC = 0.1
PW(0) = 20
PW(μEm) = 10
MW = 18
MC = 150
Equation 1.9 becomes
/ 12 0.24RH
W C = − (1.11)
and the reversal takes place at an RH of 50%. The RH has another critical point
representing the value at which the reduction in the entire weight of the microe-
mulsion with evaporation is reversed. The general expression is
W W C C W W
RH ( Em) /0.01
( ) 0)
(
M P P M M P
= μ + (1.12)
This represents a slightly greater value than that for the reversal of the water
transport direction in Equation 1.10 with a numerical value of the RH in this case
W S
C
(W1, C1, S1)
Composition of
released vapor
(Wv, 0, and Sv)
x
Water evaporating
Water absorbed
No water evaporation
FIGURE 1.17 Phase diagram illustrating the change in water evaporation direction
(arrows from the evaporation composition, W1, C1, and S1) with increased RH. The evapo-
ration changes from water evaporating to water being absorbed into the liquid from the
atmosphere.
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50. 14 Microemulsions: Properties and Applications
being 54%. In what may be considered an oddity, this value is also the one at
which the value of CV for the released vapor instantaneously goes from positive to
negative infinity with increased RH.
1.3 CONCLUSION
Phase diagrams are shown to provide valuable information on the role that struc-
ture of the surfactant, cosurfactant, and oil plays in determining the properties of
the system at any composition. In addition, it is demonstrated that degree of order/
disorder of lamellar liquid crystalline phases within a system stabilized by an
ionic surfactant is determined by the chemical structure of the components and
this in turn influences the magnitude, the nature (O/W, bicontinuous, W/O), and
the location of the microemulsion phases. When nonionic polyethylene glycol
ether surfactants are used instead of ionic ones, the temperature of the system is
the crucial determining factor, with optimum properties at the HLB temperature
of the surfactant. Finally, it is shown that straightforward algebraic analysis can
be used to determine the composition of the evaporating gas from the microemulsion
under practical use conditions by taking into account the atmospheric RH, utilizing
the vapor pressures of the volatile components, molecular weights, and extrapolations
from the phase diagram.
SYMBOLS AND TERMINOLOGIES
W water
O oil
C cosurfactant
H hydrocarbon
A alcohol
μEm microemulsion
RH relative humidity
P pressure
M molecular weight
REFERENCES
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the conditions determining the stability of microemulsions, J. Colloid Interf. Sci.
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2. Israelachvili, J. N., Mitchell, D. J., and Ninham, B. W. (1976). Thermodynamics of
amphiphilic association structures, J. Chem. Soc. Faraday Trans. II 72, 1525–1533.
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phases in systems of amphiphilic compounds, in Brown, G. H. (Ed), Advances in
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51. A Phase Diagram Approach to Microemulsions 15
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6. Sjoeblom, E. and Friberg, S. (1978). Light-scattering and electron microscopy deter-
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1677–1680.
9. Friberg, S. E., Brancewicz, C., and Morrison, D. (1994). O/W microemulsions and
hydrotropes: The coupling action of a hydrotrope, Langmuir 10, 2945–2949.
10. Friberg, S. E. (1997). Hydrotropes, Curr. Opin. Surf. Colloid Sci. 2, 490–494.
11. Friberg, S. E. and Buraczewska, I. (1978). Microemulsions in the water–potassium
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12. Bourrel, M. and Schechter, R. S. (1988). Microemulsions and Related Systems,
Marcel Dekker, New York.
13. Bauduin, P., Touraud, D., and Kunz, W. (2005). Design of low-toxic and tempera-
ture-sensitive anionic microemulsions using short propyleneglycol alkyl ethers as
cosurfactants, Langmuir 21, 8138–8145.
14. Stubenrauch, C., Frank, C., Strey, R., Burgemeister, D., and Schmidt, C. (2002).
Lyotropic mesophases next to next to highly efficient microemulsions: A 2H NMR
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15. Shinoda, K. and Friberg, S. E. (1986). Emulsions and Solubilization, John Wiley &
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17. Friberg, S. E. and Aikens, P. A. submitted to J. Disp. Sci. Tech.
89595_C001.indd 15
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53. 17
2 Physicochemistry
of W/O Microemulsions:
Formation, Stability,
and Droplet Clustering
Animesh Kumar Rakshit and Satya Priya Moulik
CONTENTS
2.1 Introduction................................................................................................ 17
2.2 Basics of Formation ................................................................................... 21
2.3 Stability of Microemulsion ........................................................................ 22
2.3.1 Method ......................................................................................... 22
2.3.2 Droplet Dimensions ..................................................................... 32
2.3.3 Energetics of Droplet Clustering .................................................34
2.3.4 Dynamics of Dispersed Droplets................................................. 36
2.3.5 Conductance of Microemulsions ................................................. 36
2.3.6 Useful Percolation Equations....................................................... 39
2.3.7 Conductance Percolation and EMT ............................................. 41
2.3.8 Viscosity Percolation ................................................................... 43
2.3.9 Antipercolation and Double Percolation......................................44
2.3.10 Activation Energy for Percolation................................................ 45
2.3.11 Additive Effects on Percolation....................................................46
Acknowledgments............................................................................................... 49
Symbols and Terminologies................................................................................ 49
References........................................................................................................... 51
2.1 INTRODUCTION
Microemulsions are microheterogeneous, thermodynamically stable mixtures of
oil and water. Here, the term “oil” means any water insoluble organic liquid.
Macroscopically, they are homogeneous systems. Such oil/water disperse sys-
tems were known for a long time as there were some commercial floor cleaning
products available in the American market at the turn of the twentieth century.
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55. some of the big ones.”
“I think I can get another like yours right here at shore,” said Tom,
and he threw in. Shortly he had a bite, and almost duplicated Jack’s
catch.
Meanwhile Jack was cleaning and scaling his prize, and drying
himself out. The other boys had fair luck with rod and line, and then
it was up to Dick to cook the fish, which he did, frying them in bacon
and corn meal.
“Oh, say, maybe they don’t smell good!” cried Tom, as the savory
odor was spread about the camp.
“They’ll taste better,” was Jack’s comment.
The evening meal was a great success and they all voted that Dick
was a much better cook than he had given himself credit for.
“How are you on pies?” asked Tom, as they sat around the
campfire that evening, after everything was ready for bed. “Think
you can tackle them, Dick? We’ve got prepared flour, and you can
use some jam, or canned apples, for filling.”
“I’ll try it,” agreed the amateur cook. “We’ll have pie to-morrow.”
They did not sleep very well that night, as the beds were rather
hard, not having been properly made, and they were all rather
excited over the events of the day.
Breakfast, however, with coffee, and bacon and eggs which they
had brought from Wilden, put them all in good humor, and they
made a merry meal.
“Now for some fishing!” exclaimed Tom, as he went down to look
about his motorboat.
“And I’m going to take a gun and see if I can get anything in the
line of game,” put in Jack. “It’s out of season for most things, but I
may get something in the bird line.”
56. “And Dick is going to make pie,” said Bert. “Make four, old man, so
there’ll be one apiece.”
“All right,” agreed the young cook good naturedly. “I won’t
guarantee results, but I’ll do my best.”
Tom started out in the boat with Bert to do some fishing, while
Jack wandered off in the woods with his shotgun. Dick did up the
dishes and then began rummaging around in the supplies. Soon he
was whistling away and, as Tom and Bert could see, from where
they were in the boat, he was kept quite busy over something.
“Well, did you get ’em made?” asked Tom, when they had all
assembled for dinner. “How about the pies, Dick?”
“There they are,” was the retort, and Dick pointed to the pastry.
“Hum! They smell good!” exclaimed Jack, as he whiffed an odor
from the pies.
“They look good,” commented Tom.
“Let’s see if they taste good,” suggested Bert.
The pies were served as dessert, and at the first mouthful Tom let
out a howl.
“For the love of tripe!” he cried. “What did you put in these pies,
Dick?”
“Apples, of course,” replied the injured cook. “What did you
suppose it was?”
“Well, if those are apples then they’re flavored with something
funny,” declared Tom. “Where’s the can you used?”
Dick brought two empty tin cans up to the table, which was made
from packing boxes.
“The paper labels soaked off,” he explained, “but there were cans
of apples on top and below these so I thought it was all right. Isn’t
it?”
Tom took a smell, and cried out:
57. “Say, fellows, he dumped a can of quinces in the apple pie stuff
and baked that all together and then used baking soda for powdered
sugar! Oh wow! What a taste!”
There was a general laugh, and Dick replied with:
“Well, if you fellows think you can do any better you can have my
job. I’m sick of being cook.”
“Tut, tut! It’s all right,” said Tom hastily. “We were only fooling.
You’re doing fine, Dick, only, after this, smell of a can if it hasn’t got
a label pasted on it, and taste the powdered sugar.”
But if the pies were a failure, the rest of the dinner was good, and
later on Dick proved that he could make good pastry when he used
the right ingredients.
They had more fish that day, as luck was good, but the game was
scarce, as might have been expected at that season of the year.
After dinner, the rest of the day was spent in getting the camp into
better shape, and making the beds more comfortable. The boys
were in the habit of making up a camp fire early in the evening, and
sitting in the glow of it to talk. They did this on their second night,
and when it had about died down Tom tossed on some heavy sticks
of wood and remarked:
“Well, I’m going to turn in. I’m tired and I want some sleep. To-
morrow we’ll take a long boat ride.”
“When are we going to the old mill?” asked Jack.
“Oh, maybe we can try that soon if we like,” said Tom.
It was nearly midnight, as Tom ascertained by looking at his
watch, when he was suddenly awakened by hearing something
moving about near the sleeping tent. At first he thought it was one
of his chums, and he called out:
“Who’s that? You, Jack?”
58. There was no answer, and, looking across to the other cots, our
hero saw the forms of his companions under the covers. They were
all quiet.
“There’s some one out there,” he murmured.
Rising cautiously he stepped to the flap of the canvas shelter and
peered out. In the dying glow of the camp fire he saw an old man
silently walking toward the tents.
“For gracious sake!” breathed Tom to himself. “If that isn’t the old
hermit of the mill I’m a lobster! I wonder what he’s doing here?”
With anxious eyes he watched, and as the moon came out from
behind a cloud, to add to the glow of the campfire, Tom saw the
light glint on a gun.
“He’s looking for us!” whispered Tom. “I wonder what I’d better
do?”
59. CHAPTER VIII
OLD ACQUAINTANCES
For a moment the lad stood there at the flap of the tent,
pondering over the situation. He realized that he might have a
desperate character to deal with—a man who would not listen to
reason, and who was impulsive, as evidenced by his leap into the
water after the motorboat.
“But I’ve got to do something,” thought Tom. “If I don’t he may
take a shot at us, not meaning to do any harm, but just because
he’s erratic. And that sort of a bullet does just as much harm as any
other. If he should fire into the tent——”
Tom did not finish out his thought, for at that moment there was a
movement on the part of the old man. He had been standing still,
silently regarding the camp, and now he again advanced.
“He’s going to see what sort of a place we have here,” mused
Tom. “I wonder if I’d better awaken the boys?”
He thought it over for a moment and then decided that perhaps
he could best deal with the old man alone.
“But how?” he asked himself.
Tom watched the hermit. He came on with a tread like that of a
cat—silently—stealthily—peering from side to side. At times he
muttered to himself.
“I’ll see if I can take him by surprise,” decided Tom. Stepping
back, where he could not be seen, inside the tent, our hero suddenly
yelled:
60. “Get out of here! What are you doing in our camp? Be off before I
set the dogs on you!”
The old man was evidently startled. He stiffened as he stood, but
Tom was glad to see that he did not bring the gun to bear. From
under the shaggy eyebrows the hermit gazed about him as if to
determine whence came the voice.
But if Tom had any idea that he could frighten the man into going
away he was mistaken. For the hermit of the mill came forward until
he stood directly in front of the big tent, and then, straightening up,
he fairly shouted:
“Ha! I have found you; have I? Those who brought their infernal
puffing engine on my lake. Now you are in my woods. I have been
looking for you. I warn you away! You must leave at once! I will not
be cheated out of my fortune this way. Leave my woods or it will be
the worse for you!” and he shook his fist at Tom, who had now
stepped into view at the flap of the tent.
“Hello! What’s the row?” called Jack, suddenly awakening.
“Is the camp on fire?” asked Dick.
“What’s wrong, Tom?” cried Bert, and all three of our hero’s
chums sprang from their cots and crowded around him.
“It’s our old friend the hermit of the mill,” explained Tom in a low
voice. “He’s come to drive us out of the woods.”
“What are you going to do?” asked Jack.
“I don’t know. Let’s see what he does.”
“He may be dangerous,” commented Dick.
“And these may be his woods,” added Bert.
“Nonsense,” declared Tom. “I asked dad about it before I came
up, and he said this part of the forest belonged to a big lumber
company that was holding it for the trees to get bigger before
cutting. This old man doesn’t own it any more than we do.”
61. “Then you’re going to stick?”
“I sure am!”
During this talk the old hermit remained motionless, regarding the
boys with angry eyes. Then he spoke again.
“Well, are you going to take yourselves out of my woods? Are you
going to leave at once? I demand that you go!”
“No, sir, we are not going,” declared Tom, firmly but respectfully,
for after all, he thought the age of the man was entitled to some
deference.
“You must leave my woods!” the hermit insisted. “I have been
bothered enough in the search for the fortune hidden from me. I
want to be alone in my woods. Go!” and he pointed his finger toward
Wilden.
“I do not think you have the right to make us go,” said Tom. “I
understand these are not your woods, and we have as good a right
to camp here as you have to wander about. We are not going!”
For a few seconds the old man seemed dazed at the bold answer.
Probably he had expected a meek compliance, but, as it developed,
Tom’s answer was the best that could have been given.
Pausing a moment the hermit gazed almost reproachfully at the
lads and then, with another shake of his fist at them, he called:
“Well, you have been warned, and now you must take the
consequences. The price of your folly is on your own heads!”
He turned and vanished into the shadows of the woods.
“Whew! Quite dramatic!” exclaimed Tom, as he turned to his
chums.
“I should say so,” agreed Jack. “Nice thing to be awakened from
pleasant dreams and told to move on in a trackless forest at
midnight. He’s as bad as Professor Skeel used to be.”
62. “Speaking of Skeel reminds me,” observed Tom. “Do you think he
has come up here to camp?”
“Hard to say,” murmured Bert. “But I know one thing, as long as
I’m awake I’m going to have something to eat. Are there any of
those chicken sandwiches left, Dick?”
“I guess so. And there’s some cold tea.”
“Warm it up then, and we’ll have a lunch.”
“Say, what do you think this is; a quick-eat restaurant?” asked the
amateur cook.
“Oh, go ahead,” suggested Tom. “We’ll all help, and maybe we’ll
get to sleep again, after this interruption, if we eat.”
The oil stove was lighted, and the tea put on to warm, while Dick
set out a plate of sandwiches he had made from canned chicken.
Then the boys ate and talked.
“That old hermit is sure on our trail,” declared Tom.
“But he doesn’t seem to be as dangerous as the folks made out,”
commented Jack.
“I guess he’s just simple-minded, thinking of the treasure in the
old mill,” added Bert. “By the way, Tom, when are we going to visit
the ruins, and have a try for the buried gold?” and he laughed.
“Oh, we’ll go over there some time,” agreed Tom. “I’d like to pick
a day, though, when old Wallace wouldn’t be on hand. I’m not
exactly afraid of him, but, from what I can understand, he does own
the mill, though not these woods, and if he ordered us off that
property we’d have to go.”
“But we can take a chance,” suggested Dick.
“Oh, sure,” came from Tom. “Say, but that old chap must spend all
his time wandering about the woods. I wonder where he sleeps
when he’s away from the mill?”
63. “Oh, he probably has plenty of bunks and caves that we never
would dream of,” said Jack. “Well, I’m going to turn in,” he added,
with a yawn. “If he comes back again kindly tell him, Tom, to wait
until morning before doing any more ordering-off.”
Once more the lads sought their cots, to sleep undisturbed until
morning. The day was spent in getting their camp more in ship-
shape, and getting in a supply of wood for camp fires, and for
cooking in case their oil gave out, or the portable stove failed.
In the afternoon they went fishing, and had good luck. Though
they kept watch for the hermit, they did not see him. The woods and
lake were as deserted as though they were in some country as yet
unvisited by man, and there were no evidences that any camping
parties had ever visited the region where the boys were.
“It sure is wild,” said Jack, as he gazed about.
“It’s just the cheese though,” declared Tom. “We couldn’t have
picked out a better place.”
“And as soon as we get busy on the secret of the old mill there
may be lots of happenings,” added Bert.
A week passed, during which our friends enjoyed life to the
utmost. They fished, and as the lake had seldom been visited by
devotees of the rod and line it proved a garden spot for such sport.
One had but to throw in a line to have a bite. They hunted, too, but
as the season was not open they managed to kill only a few foxes
and skunks, and, as their fur was not of much value in the summer,
even this they gave up as rather unprofitable work.
“It’s the mill we want to head for,” insisted Jack. “Come on, Tom,
let’s get up an expedition and go there. We can go in the boat, for,
as you say, the mill is on the river that runs into the lake. Come on.”
“All right, we’ll go to-morrow,” agreed Tom.
Accordingly, having set their camp to rights, and having put up a
lunch, for they would not be back to dinner, they set off in the Tag,
heading up the lake to where the river entered it.
64. “She’s running better than she did at home,” remarked Dick to
Tom, as he looked at the puffing motor.
“Yes, but don’t say anything,” cautioned our hero. “She may be
holding back for a kick-up. I never praise this motor, for I actually
believe it knows what you say. Let well enough alone,” and the
others laughed at his quaint conceit.
It was a beautiful day, and the trip along the lake was much
enjoyed. It was rather lonesome, but the boys did not mind that.
As they moved along the shore of a little cove Jack suddenly
called:
“Hold on! I think I heard something moving near the bank there,”
and he pointed just ahead.
“Slow down the engine,” called Tom to Dick, and the latter
throttled down, making the machinery almost noiseless. Then they
all heard a crashing in the underbrush.
“Maybe it’s the hermit,” suggested Bert.
“Very likely,” agreed Jack. “I hope he doesn’t begin on one of his
tantrums again.”
The sounds in the bushes grew, and a moment later three figures
suddenly stepped into view on the sandy beach of the lake.
“Look!” exclaimed Tom in a low voice. “If this isn’t the limit!”
All four boys gazed toward the figures, to behold their old
acquaintances, Professor Skeel, Sam Heller and Nick Johnson!
65. CHAPTER IX
AT THE OLD MILL
Difficult it would be to say which party was the more surprised.
Certain it was, though Tom and his chums knew that their former
teacher intended coming to the vicinity, and though they realized
that Sam and Nick had gotten off the train with camping stuff near
Wilden, they never expected to meet the three in this spot.
And, for that matter, neither did Mr. Skeel and the two lads, with
whom he seemed to be on friendly terms, think to behold Tom, for
the former plainly showed the surprise he felt.
“Well what do you know about this?” asked Jack, in a low voice.
“It’s the limit,” agreed Tom.
“Mind your wheel or you’ll have us on shore,” said Bert. “There’s a
big rock just ahead of you.”
Tom shifted the wheel with a rapid turn. He had been so
interested in looking at the trio on shore that he had not noticed
where he was steering.
“Shall we speak to ’em?” asked Jack.
“No, don’t,” advised Bert. “There’s no use getting into an
argument.”
“And yet we might find out something about them, and what they
are doing up here,” insisted Jack, who generally liked to take the
initiative.
“I guess we’d better not,” spoke Tom. “Anyhow, they wouldn’t give
us any satisfaction. If they hail us we’ll answer, and that’s all.”
66. But the three on shore evidently had no intention of speaking.
After his first stare of surprise Mr. Skeel was seen to speak to Sam
and Nick, and then, with a final glance at our friends, the trio turned
and plunged back into the woods.
“Well, that’s over—for the time being,” remarked Dick.
“Yes,” assented Bert. “Can you see which way they’re going,
Tom?”
“Why should we want to?”
“Because they may be going to the same place we are.”
“What, to the old mill?”
“Sure.”
“They don’t know anything about it,” declared Tom.
“How do you know? That story of buried treasure is more or less
known all over this section, and the hunt old Wallace is making for it,
too. So why shouldn’t Mr. Skeel, and Sam or Nick know of it?”
“Well, maybe you’re right,” agreed Tom. “But we can’t see which
way they’re headed. The brush is too thick.”
“We’re not far from the mill, if I’m any judge,” said Jack.
“Why?” Tom wanted to know. “How can you tell? You’ve never
been there.”
“No, but there’s a current setting into the lake now, and that
means the river isn’t far off. The mill is on the river, so, naturally
we’re near the mill. Q. E. D., as we used to say after we’d floundered
through a geometry proposition.”
“Well, maybe you’re right,” admitted our hero.
“Another thing,” went on Jack. “If we’re near the mill, so are those
fellows. So you see——”
“By Jove!” cried Tom. “I shouldn’t be surprised but what you were
right, Jack. This man Skeel would be up to any proposition to make
67. money, and he may, as you say, have heard the rumor of treasure in
the old mill.”
“How do you account for him meeting Sam and Nick?” asked Bert.
“Oh, it probably just happened,” suggested Tom. “If they are
camping near here, and Skeel is doing the same thing, it’s not out of
reason that they should meet. Well, if they’re after the treasure in
the old mill I don’t see what’s to prevent us having a go for the
same thing.”
“If Old Wallace will let us,” put in Bert.
“Oh, well, we’ll have to take a chance with him,” said Tom. “We’ll
have to wait until he’s away from home, which he seems to be most
of the time.”
“And if we get the treasure, what will we do with it?” inquired
Dick.
“Wait until we do,” laughed Tom. “I don’t believe there is one
chance in a thousand of there being any treasure there, and if there
is, it’s a hundred to one shot that we can’t find it, nor can anyone
else. But it will be fun to have a go for it.”
“And if we do find it,” put in Jack, “we’ll all take a trip to Europe.”
“No,” spoke Tom, quietly, “if we do find any treasure, it will have
to go to the one who owns it—the old hermit, very likely.”
“Oh pshaw!” cried Jack. “After the mean way he treated us, Tom?”
“Sure. Right is right. But say, don’t let’s get into an argument over
such a remote possibility. Wait until we get to the mill, and have a
look around. I’m an expert on buried treasure, and I can tell, as
soon as I see a place, what the prospects are,” and Tom’s chums
joined in his hearty laugh.
“Well, speed up,” suggested Jack, “and we’ll see what sort of an
Eldorado lies before us. Westward ho!” and he struck a dramatic
attitude.
68. Tom turned on more gasolene and advanced the spark, so that
the Tag shot ahead. There was no further sign of Professor Skeel
and the two boys.
“There’s the river!” exclaimed Bert, about a quarter of an hour
later, as the boat went around a bend, and they came into view of a
stream flowing into the lake. It was as wild and picturesque as the
lake itself, with big trees on either bank, overhanging the water in
places.
“Say, that’s great!” cried Tom. “I’m going to get some pictures of
that. Take the wheel, Jack, while I get out my camera.”
Tom was soon snapping away, getting a number of fine views,
while with Jack at the wheel, and Dick to watch the motor, the Tag
swept slowly into the river. The current was not strong at this point,
and it was possible to slow down to half speed, as the lads did not
know the character of the water, nor how much depth there was,
though the Tag did not draw more than two feet.
“Let’s see who’ll spot the old mill first,” proposed Tom, as he
adjusted his camera to take more pictures when the ruin should be
sighted.
“I’d rather get the first sight of the hidden treasure,” declared
Jack, who seemed to have more faith in the existence of the secret
horde than did the others. “Anyone can see a mill,” he went on, “but
it takes an eagle eye to spot treasure.”
“And I suppose you think you’ve got the eagle eye!” laughed Bert.
“Sure I have. Say, Dick, isn’t it almost lunch time?”
“I don’t know. I’m not the cook this week. It’s up to Tom.”
“Can we eat, Tom?” asked his roommate at Elmwood Hall.
“Not until we get to the mill. Work before pleasure, my boy. That’s
the rule here.”
“Well then, get ready with the grub,” said Jack, quietly, “for there’s
your mill,” and he pointed just ahead of them.
69. “By Jove! So it is!” exclaimed Tom.
They had gone around a turn in the river, and on one bank,
situated on a little rise, were the ruins of an old stone mill.
In its day it had been a big structure, built of field stone, and it
must have been a substantial place to which the settlers for miles
around probably came with their grain. But now it was in ruins,
through the ravages of time and the hands of those who sought the
treasure.
As the boat approached it the boys could see where a flume had
been built to take the water from the river, and direct it over a big
wheel. Of the latter there was little left. Trees and underbrush grew
up close to the old structure, near which were the rotting remains of
a wharf where, in the olden days, likely, the craft of the settlers had
tied up when they came with grist.
“Say, it’s a wonderful ruin all right,” said Tom in a low voice. “Put
over to shore, Jack, while I get a picture. Then we’ll get out and
have a look around.”
As Tom focused his camera, and clicked the shutter, there was a
movement in the tangle of vines and bushes near what had been the
main entrance to the mill.
“Look out!” exclaimed Jack. “Some one’s coming!”
70. CHAPTER X
A CURIOUS CONFERENCE
Holding themselves in readiness for whatever they might see, or
for whatever might happen, the boys peered anxiously toward the
place whence the noise and movement came.
“False alarm!” laughed Tom, as a fox leaped into view and then,
seeing human enemies, slunk out of sight.
“It made noise enough for a man,” declared Jack. “I sure thought
it was the hermit getting ready to repel boarders.”
“And treasure seekers,” added Dick.
“Well, let’s go ashore,” suggested Bert. “That is, if Tom is done
taking fancy snap shots of the old ruin.”
“Sure, I’ve got pictures enough for now, though I may want some
from the other side,” assented our hero.
Making the boat fast to the rotting wharf, the four lads climbed
out and made ready to inspect the old ruin.
“Look out!” suddenly called Tom. “That’s a weak plank you’re
stepping on, Jack. You’ll be through it in another minute!”
He made a grab for his chum, but it was too late. Jack, who had
hurried on in advance of the others, had stepped on a board of the
wharf that was but a mere rotten shell, and, an instant later, one
foot went through it, and Jack slipped down to his hip, the other leg
doubled up under him.
“Help! Help!” he cried, in mock seriousness. “One foot’s in the
water, and the other will be in a minute.”
71. “Are you hurt?” asked Bert anxiously.
“No, but if this leg isn’t skinned all the way up I’m a loon. Pull me
out, can’t you?”
As Bert and Dick started toward him Tom called:
“Stand back! If we all crowd up on those old boards we will all be
through. Wait until I can lay another plank down, that isn’t so near
gone. Then we can give you a hand.”
With the aid of Bert and Dick, our hero ripped off a more
substantial board, and then, stepping on this they managed to pull
Jack from his uncomfortable position, for he could not help himself.
“Well, how about you?” asked Tom, when they had all made their
way off the old wharf to shore.
“Oh, so-so. I’m badly battered up, but still in the ring. One foot is
well soaked, but it’s warm weather and I guess I won’t get the
epizootic. Say, though, I’m going to be lame,” and Jack limped along.
An examination showed that his right leg was painfully skinned
and bruised, where it had scraped on the edges of the hole in the
plank, as his foot went through the timber.
“We’ll bandage it up when we get to camp,” said Tom, as he used
an extra handkerchief on the worst cut of his chum’s leg. “Do you
feel able to go on to the mill, or shall we turn back, Jack?”
“Go on, of course,” declared the injured one. “I’m not going to let
a little thing like a game leg stand between me and a treasure hunt.
Lead on, captain!”
“That’s the talk!” exclaimed Bert. “You’ll get the best of the pirates’
hoard yet.”
“Now go a bit easy,” cautioned Tom. “It may be that Old Wallace is
around somewhere, and, as this is his property, he’d be justified in
making a row if he found us here. So go a bit slow until we size up
the situation.”
72. They were on the lower side of the mill now, the side nearest the
river. The ancient structure consisted of three stories. The lower one
was a sort of basement, on a level with the lower ground, where it
was evident that wagons had driven in to receive their loads of
grain. Here too, was some of the old machinery of the mill, the
levers that controlled the water gate and other things, but now all
rotted and fallen into decay.
“Say, this would be the place where the treasure would be buried,
if anywhere,” declared Jack.
“I don’t think so,” spoke Tom. “It’s too conspicuous.”
“That’s just it,” argued Jack. “The more conspicuous a thing is, the
harder it is to find it, sometimes. Nothing is more difficult to pick up,
sometimes, than something right under your nose, as the saying is.”
“That’s right,” agreed Bert. “Did you ever play the geography
game?”
“No. What is it?” asked Tom.
“Well, you take a big map, and ask a person to find some country,
city, lake or river, as the case is. Most persons pick out for the puzzle
a name printed in very small type, but those who know select a
name printed in big letters, that take up half the map, maybe. And it
most always happens that this is the hardest to find. I didn’t
originate that,” he added, modestly. “I think Poe speaks of it in one
of his stories.”
“That’s right,” agreed Tom. “At any rate some one has had a try
for the treasure here, at any rate, if signs of digging go for
anything.”
This was indeed so, for the ground was torn up, and in many
places stones had been knocked out of the thick walls, as if some
one had looked for secret hiding places.
“Well, we can’t stop to dig now,” said Tom. “But if things go right
we may later. Let’s go up on the main floor,” and he started toward
an ancient doorway.
73. “Not there!” cried Jack, holding back his chum.
“Why not?”
“The boards there will be as rotten as those on the wharf, and
we’ll all take a tumble. Let’s go outside and around on the solid
earth. I don’t want to put my other leg out of commission,” and he
limped out of the basement of the ancient mill.
The others followed, and soon they stood in the doorway of what
had evidently been the main entrance to the ancient structure. It
was on a level with the higher ground, farther back from the river.
This floor contained the mill-stones, now fallen from their position,
and encumbered with wreckage. There were several rooms, opening
one into the other, now that the doors had fallen from their hinges,
and here were holes that went through to the floor above. These
holes had once contained the chutes through which the grain was
fed to the mill-stones.
“There might be treasure here almost anywhere,” remarked Jack,
as he looked about.
“And it’s been pretty well grubbed for,” commented Tom. “They’ve
almost ripped the insides out of the mill looking for it. I suppose old
Wallace has cut and sawed and pulled apart until it’s a wonder the
old mill hangs together.”
“It’s a well-built old place,” said Dick. “The stone walls are thick.
There may be a hiding place in them.”
“I shouldn’t wonder,” and Bert shrugged his shoulders. “Well, it’s
going to be a job to take them apart all right,” and he looked at the
stones imbedded in mortar that was as good still as it was the day it
was mixed.
The boys wandered about the main floor, and looked for a place to
ascend to the third story, but there seemed to be none.
“If we had a rope we could make it,” said Tom. “We’ll bring one
next time.”
74. “Huh! How you going to get up there to fasten it?” asked Bert.
“Tie a stick on the end, throw the stick up, and when it catches,
crossways, in one of the chute-holes we can go up easily enough.”
“Good boy! Bright idea!” complimented Jack. “Well, let’s see if we
can find where old Wallace hangs out. We haven’t come across his
living quarters yet.”
There were several rooms they had not yet explored, and they
now proceeded to visit them. They had evidently been the living
apartments of the former miller, but now they were pretty much in
ruins.
“No signs of a course dinner having been prepared here,”
commented Tom. “It smells as musty as time. He must hang out
somewhere else.”
“Upstairs, I’ll wager,” said Dick.
“But how does he get up?” asked Jack.
“Oh, he has some secret way,” declared Tom. “We’ll have to get a
rope and explore that third story all right.”
“Say, maybe we’re staying too long now,” suggested Bert. “Old
Wallace may come along and nab us. We’ve seen all there is to, I
guess, except upstairs.”
“But we haven’t seen any gold,” said Jack. “I want to find some
before I go back.”
“Get out!” laughed Tom. “All the gold there is in this mill you can
put in your eye. But I think it might be a good idea to look outside a
bit. Maybe there’s some outbuilding, or some secret cache where the
pirates or settlers hid their stuff. We’ll take a look.”
“And then we’ll have some eats!” suggested Jack. “I’m as hungry
as the proverbial bear.”
They strolled about the old mill, and saw more signs of where a
search had been made for the reputed treasure. Holes innumerable
75. were on every side, but the attempts to locate the hidden gold had
soon been given over, for the excavations were shallow.
“Now for the eats!” exclaimed Jack, as they started for the dock
where their boat was tied. “Lands! but I’m stiff!”
He really was limping painfully, and his chums had to help him
down the hill to the river. As they approached their boat Tom, who
was slightly in advance, uttered an exclamation of surprise as he
peered along a path that led up the river.
“What is it?” asked Dick.
“Look,” was the answer. “Old Wallace! We got away just in time.”
“And see who’s with him!” exclaimed Jack, in a hoarse whisper.
“Professor Skeel!”
“By Jove! So it is!” gasped Tom. “Wonders will never cease. Have
they seen us?”
It was evident they had not, but to make sure of it the boys
hurried behind a screen of bushes, where they could see but not be
observed.
“Look!” exclaimed Tom again. “They’re going to have a
conference.”
As he spoke the others could see that the former professor and
the old hermit had come to a halt in a place where the path
widened. It was in a little glade, and, sitting down beneath the trees,
the two men, one of whom had played such a strange part in Tom’s
life, and the other, who was destined to, proceeded to talk earnestly.
What they said could not be heard, but it was evident that it was
some subject that interested them both, for they held their heads
close together as if afraid of being overheard. They little realized
that they were being watched.
“What are they doing now?” asked Dick.
“The old hermit has some sort of a paper,” said Tom.
76. “And he’s showing it to Mr. Skeel,” added Bert.
“Maybe it’s some sort of map to tell where the treasure is,”
suggested Dick.
“But why would he be showing it to our old professor?” asked
Tom. “If he wants to keep it a secret why is he giving it away like
that?”
“Hard to say,” commented Jack. “I think, though——”
He did not finish, for at that moment Mr. Skeel and the hermit
leaped to their feet and gazed down the path as though they heard
some one coming.
77. CHAPTER XI
AN ANGRY HERMIT
“Something new on the programme,” commented Tom in low
voice.
“Do you think they heard us?” asked Dick.
“No, they couldn’t. And they don’t see us. They’re looking the
other way,” said Jack.
“But there’s something doing,” declared Bert. “I wonder what it
is?”
They had their answer a moment later, when there came into view
around the bend in the path Sam Heller and Nick Johnson.
“Well, I’ll be jiggered!” gasped Tom. “We meet them at every
turn.”
“I wonder how they got here so soon after we met them?” asked
Bert. “It’s quite a distance to walk.”
“Maybe they took a short cut,” suggested Jack.
“Hush! Look what’s going on now,” advised Tom.
As they glanced toward where the professor and the hermit had
held a conference, they saw the old man transported into one of his
fits of rage.
He stamped about, and shook his fist at Sam and Nick,
occasionally changing by making threatening gestures at Mr. Skeel.
“Say, he’s the limit!” murmured Dick.
“Listen,” cautioned Tom. “He’s saying something.”
78. “Leave here! Leave here at once!” commanded old Wallace, almost
hitting the two lads as he shook his fists at them. “How dare you
come on my property? You are after the treasure; are you? Well, you
shall never find it! I will locate it! I will make the old mill give up its
secret! Be off!”
“Wait, wait,” said Mr. Skeel in a calm voice, laying his hand on the
hermit’s arm.
“Ha! You too are in a plot against me, I believe!” cried the angry
hermit. “I am sorry I ever had anything to do with you. Go away!”
and he took hold of the professor, and began shoving him away
down the path.
“One minute,” said Mr. Skeel in soothing tones, much different
from the harsh ones he had almost constantly used in his classes at
Elmwood Hall. “What is it you object to?”
“These lads—what are they doing here? Are they spying on me?”
and the aged man pointed at Nick and Sam.
“They are my assistants,” said the professor soothingly, and,
though he spoke in a low tone, Tom and his chums could hear him.
“Without their aid I can not help you,” Mr. Skeel went on, and when
the hermit’s back was turned toward him our hidden friends
distinctly saw the professor make a signal of caution and of
acquiescence toward the two lads, who craftily nodded their
understanding.
“Your assistants?” asked the hermit.
“Yes. If you want me to help you I must have them to help me. I
would have told you about them, but I did not get the chance until
they came so unexpectedly. Had they known that you objected to
their presence they would have remained away. But I assure you
that you can trust them.”
“Well,” said the hermit, bitterly, “since I have told you part of my
secret, and trusted you with it, I suppose your assistants must be in
on it. But no more! No more!” and he shook his fist toward the
79. clouds, and glanced around as though he feared more intruders.
“There were some other boys around the other day,” the aged man
went on, “and if I find them sneaking about my mill it will be the
worse for them.”
“Say, we did get away just in time,” whispered Jack.
“That’s right,” agreed Dick.
“But what in the world does Skeel mean by saying he is going to
help Wallace, and that Sam and Nick are his assistants, I wonder?”
asked Bert.
“That’s easy to guess,” answered Tom. “Skeel, somehow or other,
has heard about the treasure. Now he’s trying to soft-soap the
hermit into letting him have a hunt for it. Probably he’s promised to
turn most of it over to the old man.”
“I think I see him doing it, if he finds it,” commented Bert.
“And Skeel has the nerve to say that Sam and Nick are his
helpers,” said Jack. “Hot helpers they are!”
“Oh, that was just a bit of jollying, thought up on the spur of the
moment,” declared Tom. “He didn’t figure on Sam and Nick following
him, and he had to concoct some story to account for their
presence. Though I don’t doubt but what Skeel, and those two
cronies, are in thick about some scheme.”
“Searching for the treasure?” asked Dick.
“I believe so. Well, they’ve got one advantage of us, but maybe
we can get ahead of them yet,” spoke Tom. “If only we can get a
chance to do some exploring we’ll do it. But we can’t do anything
more now.”
“No, let’s go down to the boat and eat,” suggested Jack. “I’m still
hungry.”
“Wait a minute,” advised Tom. “I think they’re going to move on,
and we don’t want to run into them.”
80. As they watched they saw Sam and Nick turn and retrace their
steps back along the path. They had held a little conversation with
Mr. Skeel, to one side, so that the hermit had not heard, though he
eyed them suspiciously. Then Mr. Skeel and the old man resumed
their talk.
“Lucky that Sam and Nick didn’t come this way,” said Tom, as he
helped Jack to stand up. “Now don’t make any more noise than you
can help, or they may hear us.”
“They’ll hear the boat when it starts,” said Dick.
“I’ll drift down the river a bit before I crank up,” spoke Tom.
“Come on, everybody.”
They started down the bank, toward their boat, having come to a
halt a little distance from it. Suddenly Dick, who was in the rear,
uttered an exclamation.
“What is it?” called Tom sharply.
“They’re going away—Skeel and the hermit, and one of them has
dropped a piece of paper on the path.”
“A piece of paper!” exclaimed Tom. “We must have that! Here,
wait a minute! If they don’t miss it, and come back for it, I’ll get it.”
He crawled cautiously back to his former post of observation
behind the screen of bushes.
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