Anomalous salt extraction from water to polar organic solvents: A novel mechanism of the spontaneous emulsification

The project is focused on the new phenomenon of the anomalous salt extraction from water to an organic polar solvent, which can provide an unexplored pathway to the spontaneous emulsification at the boundary between two immiscible solvents. This phenomenon is of practical significance for separation, pharmaceutical, chemical, foods and cosmetics applications. It is proposed (a) to investigate the effect of the nature of the potential-determining ion on the dynamics of its extraction followed by the time-resolved open circuit potential (OCP) measurements, (b) to monitor the co-extraction of water to the organic solvent, (c) to inspect the solvent effect on the anomalous salt extraction, (d) to detect and identify the water structures in the organic solvent by FTIR and 1H NMR spectroscopy, (e) to develop the transport model, which would make it possible to simulate the transient OCP behavior, and (f) to use the quantum chemical calculations for the interpretation of the acquired spectroscopic data. On reaching these goals we expect to be able to outline a realistic mechanism of the anomalous salt extraction and, eventually, the spontaneous emulsification.