Influence of glycols on the formation of lamellar liquid crystals with an anionic surfactant, oleic acid, and water

The influence of glycol structures on the formation of lamellar liquid crystals with the physical appearance of transparent gels in formulations composed of an anionic surfactant, oleic acid, and water was investigated. The glycols studied belong to alkyl derivatives of ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol. The relationships between the ingredients of the so-called basic compositions—surfactant, oleic acid, and glycol—were optimized to form transparent gels when diluted with water. The ranges in which transparent gels existed were compared for the systems with different glycols. The most suitable glycols, as defined by the lowest surfactant content in the final transparent gels, were ethylene glycol methyl ether and especially methyl and ethyl derivatives of diethylene glycol. Formulations with 2–3% surfactant could be prepared with these glycols. These data were correlated with the polarity of the glycol structures described by means of log P (octanol/water partition coefficient). Transparent gel formation occurred for log P values ranging from approximately 0.5 to −0.5, whereas liquid crystal formation did not result from higher or lower values.