Solubilization power of surfactant-free microemulsions

Abstract

Hydrophobe solubilization concepts rely on the shielding of solutes from water in nonpolar domains comprising traditional surfactants. We show how an octanol/ethanol/water surfactant-free microemulsion solvates hydrophobic propane in small octanol/ethanol aggregates similar to traditional micelles. These aggregates have the comparable solvent quality as bulk octanol/ethanol with the same composition.