Amphiphilic properties of poly(oxyalkylene)amine-intercalated smectite aluminosilicates

Layered aluminosilicates, including synthetic fluorine mica and natural montmorillonite (MMT), were intercalated with poly(oxypropylene)-polyamine quaternary salts with a 230-5000 molecular weight range. The X-ray basal spacing of these silicates had been expanded from 13.5 to 83.7 Angstrom for the synthetic mica and to 92.0 Angstrom for MMT. The relative silicate dimensions (300-1000 nm for synthetic mica and 80-100 nm for MMT) were ascertained by direct TEM observations in the case of the co-intercalated synthetic mica and MMT mixtures with M-W = 2000 quaternary ammonium salts. The tailored organic incorporation of synthetic mica and MMT clays could alter these hydrophilic clays, making them amphiphilic, and enable the lowering of toluene/water interfacial tension to 2.0 mN/m at the critical concentration of 0.1 wt %.