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

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