Griffin's Method
Griffin's method for non-ionic surfactants as described in 1954 works as follows:
where Mh is the molecular mass of the hydrophilic portion of the molecule, and M is the molecular mass of the whole molecule, giving a result on a scale of 0 to 20. An HLB value of 0 corresponds to a completely lipophilic/hydrophobic molecule, and a value of 20 corresponds to a completely hydrophilic/lipophobic molecule.
The HLB value can be used to predict the surfactant properties of a molecule:
- A value < 10 : Lipid soluble (water insoluble)
- A value > 10 : Water soluble (lipid insoluble)
- A value from 4 to 8 indicates an anti-foaming agent
- A value from 7 to 11 indicates a W/O (water in oil) emulsifier
- A value from 12 to 16 indicates O/W (oil in water) emulsifier
- A value from 11 to 14 indicates a wetting agent
- A value from 12 to 15 indicates a detergent
- A value of 16 to 20 indicates a solubiliser or hydrotrope
Read more about this topic: Hydrophilic-lipophilic Balance
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