silicone Surfactants In Oil Based Systems

Over the years Dr Rosen has examined, characterised, and evaluated many different types of surfactants and their ability to function for very specialised applications.  His studies helped provide structure / function insights into how surfactants act in aqueous systems.  Building off his work with traditional fatty surfactants in water, the chemistry world has expanded into the realm of non-traditional systems. Such systems include silicone / hydrocarbon surfactants in oil based systems. A silicone / hydrocarbon system can be easily studied and characterised by following the blueprint set forth by Dr Rosen. Just like the systems that Dr Rosen studied, these systems take advantage of the fact that hydrocarbon and silicone are immiscible in each other and have surface activity. As it turns out, when studying the silicone systems, they behave much like fatty surfactants do in aqueous systems.  It is perfectly legitimate to ask what is the ‘CMC’ of cetyl dimethicone in mineral oil or in olive oil.  This paper will discuss the properties of silicone surfactants used in oil based anhydrous systems and compare them to standard surfactants in aqueous systems.