Different degrees of hydration in water–oil microemulsions by low-resolution 1H magnetic relaxation analysis

Abstract

The purpose of the research was to establish whether the water configurations, detected by previous differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis, could give rise to different or characteristic nuclear magnetic resonance relaxations. We report the results of a study on water–hexadecane microemulsions at different water contents. The 1H spin–spin and spin–lattice relaxation curves were obtained at 20 MHz and 310 K. The trends of all best-fit relaxation parameters versus water concentration were compared with those obtained for D2O microemulsions with the same experimental conditions and fitting procedures. Two different H2O microemulsion "states" were identified: (i) all the systems without "free water" (defined by DSC as water melting at 273 K) were characterized by 1H spin–spin and spin–lattice relaxation curves well described by two exponential functions and (ii) all the systems with free water were characterized by relaxation curves well described by three exponential functions. The identification of the main phases of the microemulsions interphasal region and continuous medium, besides free water, seems possible on the basis of the 1H magnetic relaxation characteristics.