Organogels with surfactants and halophenols

Contrast variation Small-angle neutron scattering (CV-SANS) will be used to probe structure of novel organogels made from surfactants and p-halophenols low molecular weight organogelators (LMOGs, Figure 2). Both the LMOG and the surfactant are commercially available. There is no literature on CV-SANS on these systems. Alongside this, the use of halophenols brings phase transition temperature of the gels to an appropriate temperature region (figure 3), and forms stronger gels than the hydrocarbon phenols previously documented 1-2, increasing their potential for use with CO2-philic surfactants. These thermoresponsive structures will be explored around the ‘melting’ point, where a sharp decrease in viscosity is observed (Figure 3). Progress in this field has recently been reviewed by Peach et al.; this research has received external publicity through the UK government agency UK trade and Investment (UKTI)4 and is supported by an STFC funded studentship ST/L502613/1 - ‘Controlling fluid properties of dense CO2’ and the G8 Research Councils Initiative on Multilateral Research Funding - G8-2012 - EP/K020676/1.