Effect of alcohol cosurfactants on the diffusion coefficients of microemulsions by light scattering

The influence of increasing amounts of alcohol on the collective diffusion coefficient was investigated using a light scattering technique. Three components were mantained fixed (isopropyl myristate, sodium bis-2-ethylhexyl sulphosuccinate, water); series of microemulsions were obtained adding increasing aliquots of alcohol (1-butanol, isobutanol, 2-pentanol, 3-pentanol, 3-methyl-2-butanol, tert-amyl alcohol, cyclo-pentanol, 3-methyl-pentanol, cyclohexanol, benzyl alcohol). The behaviour was the same for all the series, a maximum collective diffusion coefficient was noted for each alcohol. The collective diffusion coefficients at maximum could be related to the water solubilities of the alcohols