PHYSICAL METHODS FOR MEASUREMENT OF THE HLB OF ETHER AND ESTER NONIONIC SURFACE-ACTIVE AGENTS - H-NMR AND DIELECTRIC-CONSTANT

After a short review of the different physical methods of determinatio n of the HLB (lipophilic/hydrophilic balance) value of surface-active agents, two techniques were investigated and experiments were performe d on a large number of commercial surface-active agents: H-NMR which c omputes HLB with the help of the integration of the H-signals from the lipophilic and hydrophilic parts of the molecule and by dielectric co nstant measurement which computes the HLB from knowledge of the polari ty of molecules under the influence of an electrical field. The result s are described and discussed.