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α-Monoisostearyl glyceryl ether (GE) is a surfactant with less solubility into water, and forms the lyotropic liquid crystal with a reversed hexagonal structure even at lower concentrations. GE was found to be such a characteristic emulisifier that it gave stable water-in-oil (W/O) emulsions against a coalescence of water droplets, even though the water content of the emulsion was extremely high. The emulsion became more stable as increased in the water concentration.The structure of the emulsions was investigated through the study of the ternary phase diagrams and the measurement of small angle X-ray scattering, indicating that the liquid crystalline phase composed of GE, water and oil was formed in the emulsion. The electron microscopic observation showed that the interfacial layer between oil and water phases in the emulsion was the liquid crystal. And in case of higher water concentrations, the continuous phase itself was composed of the liquid crystal. These interfacial layers are considered to be mechanically so tough that the W/O emulsions were stable against a coalescence of water droplets.Thus it was concluded that the W/O emulsions stabilized with GE was, in fact, water-in-liquid crystal (W/LC) emulsion. |
