DESIGN AND SYNTHESIS OF HIGHLY CO2-SOLUBLE SURFACTANTS AND CHELATING-AGENTS

Use of a surfactant or chelate as an associative co-solvent is a usefu l method for increasing the solvating power of non-polar supercritical fluids (SCF's). Although CO2 is the most widely used SCF, commerciall y available surfactants and chelating agents have been shown to be gen erally poorly soluble in this fluid. Consequently, this study outlines the identification of CO2-philic functionalities, synthesis and chara cterization of surfactants and chelating agents containing these funct ionalities, and their phase behavior in supercritical CO2.