Formation and stability of water-in-carbon dioxide microemulsions are described with eight related
fluorinated analogues of the anionic surfactant Aerosol-OT. The aim was to identify a structure−performance
relationship in CO2 with surfactants of high surface chemical purity that can also be synthesized from
readily available reagents. The most effective CO2-philes from this group were sodium bis(1H,1H-perfluoropentyl)-2-sulfosuccinate (di-CF4), sodium bis(1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorohexyl)-2-sulfosuccinate
(di-CF4H), and sodium bis(1H,1H-perfluoroheptyl)-2-sulfosuccinate (di-CF6). All three of these compounds
stabilized microemulsions at CO2 bottle pressure (57 bar) at 15 °C, with a w value ([water]/[surf]) of 10.
A close correlation is demonstrated between limiting aqueous phase surface tension of a given surfactant
at its critical micelle concentration, γcmc, and its performance in water−CO2 microemulsions, as measured
by the phase transition pressure P
trans. This finding has important implications for the rational design of
CO2-philic surfactants.
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