synthesis of a triblock nonionic copolymer poly(ricineoleic acid-b-ethyleneglycol-b-ricineoleic acid) and investigation of the stability of its associated water/oil emulsion

two steps synthetic method for the preparation of a novel emulsion stabilizer called poly(ricineoleic acid-b-ethyleneglycol-b-ricineoleic acid) with average mass molecular weight of 7000 daltons is investigated. in the first step, oligoricineoleic acid with average mass molecular weight of 1800 daltons is synthesized (yield 70%). in the second step, the desired copolymer is  synthesized from the reaction of two moles of oligomer with one mole of polyethylene glycol and its stabilizing effect on an water/oil emulsion is investigated. for the formulation of the emulsion, the synthesized copolymer is first dissolved at 45oc in diesel oil while stirring, and then this solution is added dropwise to the solution of saline water (1m). then the mixture is stressed under ultrasonic waves for 5 s to afford smaller drops, after which the emulsion shows good stability. a thin layer film of emulsion- produced from injection of emulsion (0.1 μl) is studied by light microscope equipment. in this study the number of oil droplets and the average diameter of droplets are determined. also the mole fractions (φ = 0.32) are calculated. this copolymer can be used as a stabilizer in invert emulsion muds, which are used in perforating industry and as a thickener in food and cosmetic industries.