Microscope measurements for the transient formation of W/O emulsions of sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate in the dodecane/water interfacial region

The present study investigated the transient formation of water-in-oil (W/O) emulsions of sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate (aerosol OT, AOT) in a dodecane/water interfacial region and the anomalous uptake of water in the dodecane phase by in situ bright-field optical microscopy and water concentration measurements in detail. The hydrodynamic radius of the individual W/O emulsions in the dodecane phase was determined to be 0.1-1.2 μm from the analysis of their diffusion behavior; they are much larger than common W/O microemulsions (a few nanometers in radius). At first, they were formed spontaneously in the dodecane/water interfacial region without shaking, and they diffused away into the dodecane phase. Then, almost all of them vanished at the interface by fusion. Their number and the water concentration in the dodecane phase increased first and then decreased gradually. The formation mechanism was discussed with estimated concentration profiles of AOT and water molecules, which suggests that larger W/O emulsions of 0.01-0.44 μm in radius can be formed in the dodecane phase near the interface (within 2 μm) because the concentration of AOT becomes lower than that of water there.

In situ measurements of the dynamics of single giant DNA molecules at the toluene-trioctylamine/water interface by total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy

The dynamics of single giant deoxyribonucleic acid (T4GT7DNA, 165 600 base pairs) molecules was examined near and at the toluene/water, toluene-trioctylamine mixtures/water, and trioctylamine/water interfaces by total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy. The results were considerably affected by the trioctylamine content. With pure toluene or mixtures of lower trioctylamine volume contents (%VA), the randomly coiled DNA molecules diffused to near the interfaces. With mixtures of higher %VA (9 and 50%), the DNA molecules were stretched and adsorbed at the interfaces. There are a large number of anionic phosphate groups ((-O)2PO2-) in the DNA molecule that have an electrostatic affinity to protonated trioctylamine existing at the interface. In the case of pure trioctylamine, globular DNA molecules were adsorbed at the interface and also existed in the aqueous phase.