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Updated: Jun 5, 2026

Self-Nanoemulsification of Healthy Oils to Enhance the Solubility of Lipophilic Drugs

Self-Nanoemulsification of Healthy Oils to Enhance the Solubility of Lipophilic Drugs

Published on: July 27, 2022

Microemulsions from silicone oil with an anionic/nonionic surfactant mixture.

Lukas Wolf¹, Heinz Hoffmann, Kei Watanabe

¹University of Bayreuth, BZKG/BayColl, Gottlieb-Keim-Str. 60, 95448 Bayreuth, Germany. lukas.wolf@frenet.de

Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics : PCCP

|January 6, 2011

Summary

This study details novel microemulsion phases using silicone oil and mixed surfactants. Unlike nonionic systems, these microemulsions show unconnected channels and lack bicontinuous structures at equal oil-water ratios.

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Last Updated: Jun 5, 2026

Self-Nanoemulsification of Healthy Oils to Enhance the Solubility of Lipophilic Drugs

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Published on: July 27, 2022

Microbubble Fabrication of Concave-porosity PDMS Beads

Microbubble Fabrication of Concave-porosity PDMS Beads

Published on: December 15, 2015

Area of Science:

Physical Chemistry
Materials Science
Colloid Science

Background:

Microemulsions are thermodynamically stable isotropic liquid mixtures.
Tuning microemulsion properties is crucial for various applications.
Previous studies focused primarily on nonionic surfactant systems.

Purpose of the Study:

To prepare and characterize novel microemulsion phases using silicone oil and mixed nonionic/ionic surfactants.
To investigate the influence of surfactant mixing ratio on phase behavior and morphology.
To compare the findings with existing knowledge of nonionic microemulsion systems.

Main Methods:

Preparation of microemulsion phases using hexamethyldisiloxane (silicone oil), isotridecyltriethyleneglycolether (nonionic surfactant), and calciumdodecylsulfate (ionic surfactant).
Phase diagram construction at constant temperature.
Conductivity measurements to determine microemulsion morphology.

Main Results:

Successful preparation of microemulsion phases with tunable hydrophilicity.
Observation of two distinct single-phase channels (L(1), L(α), L(3)) within the phase diagram.
Conductivity data revealed bicontinuous morphology in the upper channel (up to 40% oil) and oil-in-water droplets in the lower channel.
Crucially, the two channels were found to be unconnected, and microemulsions with equal oil and water content did not exhibit bicontinuous structures.

Conclusions:

The combination of silicone oil and mixed nonionic/ionic surfactants offers a new route to microemulsion formulation.
The mixing ratio of surfactants significantly impacts phase behavior and morphology.
The unconnected nature of the phase channels and the absence of bicontinuity at equal oil-water ratios represent a significant departure from nonionic systems.