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The affinity between certain organic compounds and clays has been known for many years. Lloyd reported the adsorptive capacity of fuller's earth for alkaloids in 1916 without theorizing extensively about the mechanism. Smith reacted organic bases and their salts with bentonite and presented evidence that the reaction was one of base-exchange or metathesis, while Hauser has discovered that certain organic compounds of bentonite have the property of swelling and dispersing in organic liquids. This paper reports observations on the rather striking conversion of bentonite from the hydrophilic to the organophilic condition and proposes a mechanism to explain the observed phenomena.

The clay minerals, generally characterized by their small particle size, affinity for water, and response to chemical changes in their environment, are noted for their gelling and viscoslty-increasing abilities in aqueous systems. Rendered organophilic by association with long-chain organic compounds, several of the clay minerals exhibit similar or even greater gelling abilities in various organic liquids.Methods of preparing organophilic clays are discussed and data shown for ion exchange reactions between long-chain organic cations and montmorillonite minerals. Properties of modified clays in various liquid systems are illustrated, and industrial applications are cited.

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