Fluorinated Microemulsions:  A Study of the Phase Behavior and Structure

Abstract

Fluorinated surfactants have been studied for their peculiar property to form micellar aggregates in water and oils (hydrocarbons or fluorocarbons) and to produce stable microemulsions. Because of their capacity to dissolve large amounts of gases (such as oxygen and carbon dioxide) and for their characteristic physicochemical properties, fluorocarbons have been tested for specific medical purposes, and their microemulsions are among the most promising candidates for the production of suitable blood substitutes and other biocompatible fluids. We have synthesized a new partially fluorinated nonionic surfactant, namely, F(CF 2 ) 7 -CO-(OCH 2 CH 2 ) 7.2 -OCH 3 (I), that forms stable microemulsions with water and perfluorocarbons such as perfluorooctane (PFO). In this paper we describe for the first time the phase behaviors of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in water/ PFH and in water/PFO, and that of ester I in water/PFO. Small-angle neutron-scattering (SANS) experiments provide a detailed description of the microstructure of the H 2 O/PFO/PFOA ternary system.

Volatile fluorinated nanoemulsions: A chemical route to controlled delivery of inhalation Anesthesia

“…for formation of blood substitutes [1][2][3][4] or as templating media for the preparation of porous materials [5][6][7][8][9]. For volatile emulsions previous fundamental studies have shown that oil evaporation depends both on the type of stabilizer used and on the solubility of the oil in the continuous water phase [10][11][12]: evaporation rates of water soluble oils approach that of the bulk oil, but evaporation of very low solubility oils is significantly hindered, an effect magnified by the use of a polymeric (as opposed to low molecular weight surfactant) stabilizer [10][11][12].…”

Phase behavior and preparation of mesoporous silica in aqueous mixtures of fluorinated surfactant and hydrophobic fluorinated polymer

“…However, they tend to prefer to form structures based on bilayers [5]. Among fluorinated surfactants perflurocarboxylic acids and their alkali-metal and (alkyl) ammonium salts are widely investigated compounds [2,4,[7][8][9][10][11]. The anionic fluorinated alkyl carboxylates continue to attract attention due to their ability to form the lyotropic nematic phases.…”

Winsor I⇔;III⇔II Microemulsion Phase Behavior of Hydrofluoroethers and Fluorocarbon/Hydrocarbon Catanionic Surfactants

“…They may also be formed by the reaction of a cationic surfactant with an anionic surfactant (see [3]) (11).…”

“…There have also been studies on fluorocarbon microemulsions (2). Due to the enhanced solubility of gases in fluorocarbon fluids, much interest has been shown in formulating microemulsions of these fluids for biomedical applications, such as synthetic blood (3).…”