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Transparent Water-in-Oil Dispersions: the Oleopathic Hydro-Micelle

Nature volume 152, pages 102–103 (1943)Cite this article

Abstract

IT is well known that oil – alkali-metal soap (or cationic soap, such as cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide) – water systems of certain concentrations exist as transparent, electrically non-conducting dispersions, in which the oil is the continuous phase. Dilution of these systems with excess water inverts them to oil-in-water emulsions which are milky for low soap/oil ratios and transparent for sufficiently high soap/oil ratios. The transparent oil-continuous systems are familiar as 'soluble-oil' and similar concentrates: the essential conditions for their formation are (1) highsoap/water ratio, (2) the presence of an alcohol, fatty acid, amine or other non-ionized amphipathic substance in mol-fraction approximately equal to that of the soap.

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References

  1. Schulman and Hughes, Biochem. J., 29, 1243(1935). Schulman and Rideal, Proc. Roy. Soc., B, 122, 29, 46 (1937). Schulman and Stenhagen, Proc. Roy. Soc., B, 126, 356 (1938). Marsden and Schulman, Trans. Faraday Soc., 34, 748 (1938). Cockbain and Schulman, Trans. Faraday Soc., 35, 716 (1939)., Lawrence, Trans. Faraday Soc., 35, 702 (1939).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Metallurgical Laboratories, University, Cambridge,

    T. P. HOAR

  2. Department of Colloid Science, University, Cambridge,

    J. H. SCHULMAN

Authors
  1. T. P. HOAR
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  2. J. H. SCHULMAN
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HOAR, T., SCHULMAN, J. Transparent Water-in-Oil Dispersions: the Oleopathic Hydro-Micelle. Nature 152, 102–103 (1943). https://doi.org/10.1038/152102a0

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