Daniel Topgaard

NMR has contributed greatly to our current understanding of self-association, phase behaviour, and molecular dynamics in aqueous systems of oligo(ethylene oxide) mono-alkyl ether (CmEn) nonionic surfactants, which are extensively used in both basic scientific studies and technical applications as emulsifying agents and detergents. This review provides a comprehensive but concise overview of the various NMR techniques that have been applied to nonionic surfactants. We describe conventional experimental procedures, such as the measurement of quadrupole splittings, nuclear relaxation times, and self-diffusion coefficients to characterize liquid crystalline phases, micelles, and microemulsions, as well as more advanced imaging and diffusion-diffusion 2D correlation approaches to investigate the structure of phase-separated systems and the spatial organization of anisotropic liquid crystalline domains on the micro- to millimetre length scales.