Solutions of alkali soaps and water in fatty acids. XII. Correlations between the acid sodium octanoates in the isotropic liquidL 2-phase at water contents from 82% down to 10% and those in adjacent liquid crystalline phases

Abstract

A close connection exists between the isotropic L2-phase and the liquid crystalline lamellar D-phase. This connection is evidenced both with respect to similar compositions of their acid sodium octanoates and concerning the structure of the phases.The two-phase zone between these phases is very narrow, from 82 % down to about 55 % of water, it then widens slowly to about 40 % and thereafter very rapidly to 22 % of water; below the latter value it remains broad. The border of the L2-phase is in the whole region from 82 % to 22 % of water located at molar ratios between octanoic acid and sodium octanoate of somewhat above 2.0; the border of the D-phase lies at the same values down to a water content of 40 %. The acid octanoate 1 NaC8 : 2 HC8 : x H20 plays thus a considerable role in the phase transition all the way down to a water content of 22 %. As long as free bulk-water exists in both phases the structures in them remain alike; this similarity is greatest as long as the amount of bulk-water is so large that it suffices to form coherent domains. At contents of water below 40 %, that is after the disappearance of the bulk-water and when a decrease in the content of water begins to affect the hydration of the acid octanoates, the structural similarity between the phases disappears rapidly.