An emulsion is a mixture of two or more liquids that are normally immiscible owing to liquid-liquid phase separation. Emulsions are part of a more general class of two-phase systems of matter called colloids. Although the terms colloid and emulsion are sometimes used interchangeably, emulsion should be used when both phases, dispersed and continuous, are liquids. In an emulsion, one liquid is dispersed in the other. Examples of emulsions include vinaigrettes, homogenized milk, liquid biomolecular condensates, and some cutting fluids for metal working.
Brine is water with a high-concentration solution of salt. In diverse contexts, brine may refer to the salt solutions ranging from about 3.5% up to about 26%. Brine forms naturally due to evaporation of ground saline water but it is also generated in the mining of sodium chloride. Brine is used for food processing and cooking, for de-icing of roads and other structures, and in a number of technological processes. It is also a by-product of many industrial processes, such as desalination, so it requires wastewater treatment for proper disposal or further utilization.
In polymer chemistry, emulsion polymerization is a type of radical polymerization that usually starts with an emulsion incorporating water, monomers, and surfactants. The most common type of emulsion polymerization is an oil-in-water emulsion, in which droplets of monomer are emulsified in a continuous phase of water. Water-soluble polymers, such as certain polyvinyl alcohols or hydroxyethyl celluloses, can also be used to act as emulsifiers/stabilizers. The name "emulsion polymerization" is a misnomer that arises from a historical misconception. Rather than occurring in emulsion droplets, polymerization takes place in the latex/colloid particles that form spontaneously in the first few minutes of the process. These latex particles are typically 100 nm in size, and are made of many individual polymer chains. The particles are prevented from coagulating with each other because each particle is surrounded by the surfactant ('soap'); the charge on the surfactant repels other particles electrostatically. When water-soluble polymers are used as stabilizers instead of soap, the repulsion between particles arises because these water-soluble polymers form a 'hairy layer' around a particle that repels other particles, because pushing particles together would involve compressing these chains.
A micelle or micella is an aggregate of surfactant amphipathic lipid molecules dispersed in a liquid, forming a colloidal suspension. A typical micelle in water forms an aggregate with the hydrophilic "head" regions in contact with surrounding solvent, sequestering the hydrophobic single-tail regions in the micelle centre.
In colloidal chemistry, flocculation is a process by which colloidal particles come out of suspension to sediment in the form of floc or flake, either spontaneously or due to the addition of a clarifying agent. The action differs from precipitation in that, prior to flocculation, colloids are merely suspended, under the form of a stable dispersion and are not truly dissolved in solution.
In colloidal and surface chemistry, the critical micelle concentration (CMC) is defined as the concentration of surfactants above which micelles form and all additional surfactants added to the system will form micelles.
Cetrimonium bromide, also known with the abbreviation CTAB, is a quaternary ammonium surfactant with a condensed structural formula [(C16H33)N(CH3)3]Br.
Bromocresol green (BCG) is a dye of the triphenylmethane family. It belongs to a class of dyes called sulfonephthaleins. It is used as a pH indicator in applications such as growth mediums for microorganisms and titrations. In clinical practise, it is commonly used as a diagnostic technique. The most common use of bromocresol green is to measure serum albumin concentration within mammalian blood samples in possible cases of kidney failure and liver disease. In chemistry, bromocresol green is used in Thin-layer chromatography staining solutions to visualize acidic compounds.
A dispersion is a system in which distributed particles of one material are dispersed in a continuous phase of another material. The two phases may be in the same or different states of matter.
Surfactin is a cyclic lipopeptide, commonly used as an antibiotic for its capacity as a surfactant. It is an amphiphile capable of withstanding hydrophilic and hydrophobic environments. The Gram-positive bacterial species Bacillus subtilis produces surfactin for its antibiotic effects against competitors. Surfactin showcases antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, and hemolytic effects.
Poloxamers are nonionic triblock copolymers composed of a central hydrophobic chain of polyoxypropylene flanked by two hydrophilic chains of polyoxyethylene. The word poloxamer was coined by BASF inventor, Irving Schmolka, who received the patent for these materials in 1973. Poloxamers are also known by the trade names Pluronic, Kolliphor, and Synperonic.
Micellar liquid chromatography (MLC) is a form of reversed phase liquid chromatography that uses an aqueous micellar solutions as the mobile phase.
Polymorphism in biophysics is the ability of lipids to aggregate in a variety of ways, giving rise to structures of different shapes, known as "phases". This can be in the form of spheres of lipid molecules (micelles), pairs of layers that face one another, a tubular arrangement (hexagonal), or various cubic phases. More complicated aggregations have also been observed, such as rhombohedral, tetragonal and orthorhombic phases.
A micellar cubicphase is a lyotropic liquid crystal phase formed when the concentration of micelles dispersed in a solvent (usually water) is sufficiently high that they are forced to pack into a structure having a long-ranged positional (translational) order. For example, spherical micelles a cubic packing of a body-centered cubic lattice. Normal topology micellar cubic phases, denoted by the symbol I1, are the first lyotropic liquid crystalline phases that are formed by type I amphiphiles. The amphiphiles' hydrocarbon tails are contained on the inside of the micelle and hence the polar-apolar interface of the aggregates has a positive mean curvature, by definition (it curves away from the polar phase). The first pure surfactant system found to exhibit three different type I (oil-in-water) micellar cubic phases was observed in the dodecaoxyethylene mono-n-dodecyl ether (C12EO12)/water system.
Lyotropic liquid crystals result when amphiphiles, which are both hydrophobic and hydrophilic, dissolve into a solution that behaves both like a liquid and a solid crystal. This liquid crystalline mesophase includes everyday mixtures like soap and water.
Peptide amphiphiles (PAs) are peptide-based molecules that self-assemble into supramolecular nanostructures including; spherical micelles, twisted ribbons, and high-aspect-ratio nanofibers. A peptide amphiphile typically comprises a hydrophilic peptide sequence attached to a lipid tail, i.e. a hydrophobic alkyl chain with 10 to 16 carbons. Therefore, they can be considered a type of lipopeptide. A special type of PA, is constituted by alternating charged and neutral residues, in a repeated pattern, such as RADA16-I. The PAs were developed in the 1990s and the early 2000s and could be used in various medical areas including: nanocarriers, nanodrugs, and imaging agents. However, perhaps their main potential is in regenerative medicine to culture and deliver cells and growth factors.
Micellar solubilization (solubilization) is the process of incorporating the solubilizate into or onto micelles. Solubilization may occur in a system consisting of a solvent, an association colloid, and at least one other solubilizate.
In colloidal chemistry, the critical micelle concentration (CMC) of a surfactant is one of the parameters in the Gibbs free energy of micellization. The concentration at which the monomeric surfactants self-assemble into thermodynamically stable aggregates is the CMC. The Krafft temperature of a surfactant is the lowest temperature required for micellization to take place. There are many parameters that affect the CMC. The interaction between the hydrophilic heads and the hydrophobic tails play a part, as well as the concentration of salt within the solution and surfactants.
Timothy P. Lodge is an American polymer scientist.
Wetting solutions are liquids containing active chemical compounds that minimise the distance between two immiscible phases by lowering the surface tension to induce optimal spreading. The two phases, known as an interface, can be classified into five categories, namely, solid-solid, solid-liquid, solid-gas, liquid-liquid and liquid-gas.
