Emulsification using amphiphilic polymers

Abstract

Recently, amphiphilic polymers have come to actual use as an emulsifying agent in oil industries. They can provide stability and reduce an amount of low-molecular-weight surfactants. They stabilize emulsions by “adsorption at an oil and water interface” and/or “associating thickening”. This over view summarizes several types of polymeric emulsifier and emulsification mechanism mainly in cosmetic field and describes recent studies of a new water-soluble amphiphilic polysaccharide HHMHEC. HHM-HEC formed a gel through aggregation of hydrophobic moieties in water and stabilized O/ W emulsions by the associative thickening mechanism.