An NMR study of diffusion in surfactant-free emulsions and molten triglyceride mixtures.

摘要

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) diffusion measurements have become extensively used analytical techniques, with applications in many fields. In this thesis these measurements have been employed to elucidate a mechanism of emulsion stabilization and to examine mobility of a mixture of substances at the molecular level.;Emulsions (liquid-in-liquid mixtures) have widespread applications (pharmaceutical, food science, petrochemical, agrochemical), therefore it is important to understand what governs emulsion stability. It has been previously demonstrated that a degassing process stabilizes oil-in-water emulsions, however the mechanism behind this is debated. In this thesis the Cotts 13-interval NMR sequence was used to examine the effects of degassing, establishing which of two suggested mechanisms is responsible for producing stable emulsions.;Triglyceride mixtures are commonly separated before characterisation, however, NMR measurements of diffusion in molten trilaurin-trimyristin mixes have been made. This sheds light on the behaviour of these mixtures and assisted in developing new methods for their characterisation. These applications illustrate the versatility of NMR diffusion measurements.