INTRODUCTIONRoom-temperature ionic liquids RT-ILs are a relatively new class of organic solvents. Their unique physicochemical properties such as excellent thermal stability up to 300 or more, negligible volatility, and non-flammability make them ideal green solvents for many reactions of industrial importance. In the field of colloid and interface chemistry, RT-ILs have also received much attention 1, 2 . For example, a wide range of research papers on RT-ILs were reviewed and categorized by Inoue from the perspective of surfactant chemistry 3 . These categories comprised the following: i RT-ILs as a new type of surfactant, ii the effects of RT-ILs on the aqueous solution properties of surfactants, iii the formation of microemulsions using RT-ILs as polar solvents, and iv the self-assembly of surfactants in RT-ILs. Our interest lies in the fourth category 4, 5 . One of the key fi ndings we reported in a previous paper 4 is that phytosterol ethoxylates BPS-n, where n is an oxyethylene chain length of 5, 10, 20, and 30 exhibit excellent surface activity in an aprotic, imidazolium-type RT-IL 1-butyl-