ABSTRACT
I. INTRODUCTION The development of polymeric surfactants as stabilizers in organic media started several decades ago and arose from the need for stabilizing materials which would be operative in nonaqueous systems. The creation of dispersions of polymers of colloidal dimensions in organic media, obtained by emulsification of a polymer solution or by polymerization, has been a rapidly growing technique. Since most nonaqueous systems have nonpolar solvents as the continuous phase, ionic surface active materials as stabilizers would not be effective, and other type of repulsive forces have to be applied. This led to the use of steric stabilization by polymeric (or oligomeric) surface active agents.
