ABSTRACT

I. Introduction 85 II. Anomeric Alkyl Glucosides 86

A. Phase behavior 87 B. Micellar properties 99 C. Interfacial tension and emulsification 111 D. Other surfactant properties 122 E. Mixtures with other surfactants 134

III. Alkyl Polyglucosides 139 A. Phase behavior 141 B. Micellar properties 183 C. Flow behavior 200 D. Interfacial tension and emulsification 223 E. Wetting and adsorption 247 F. Foaming 261 References 270

I. INTRODUCTION This chapter covers the important aqueous solution properties of alkyl polyglucosides as far as they have already been studied for this new class of surfactants. As discussed in Chapter 2, alkyl polyglucosides form very com­ plex product spectra because of their three different isomerisms. Hence, the

respective property profiles represent the sum of the interactions between all the constituents. Based on a typical average degree of glycosidation be­ tween 1.1 and 1.7 [1], the products of interest for application purposes are, in fact, not polymers but oligomers; the main components are the four anomeric alkyl monoglucosides with total contents between about 70% and 40%. As many as 64 isomers of alkyl diglucosides, alkyl maltosides, and alkyl isomaltosides are the main products, with totals between 15% and 30%. Thousands of triglucosides and tens of thousands of tetraglucosides, etc. form the minor products. The single main component of the alkyl polyglucosides is the alkyl a-D-glucoside or, more accurately, alkyl l - O - a - D - glucopyranoside [2] (see Chapter 2).