Hydrophilicity switchable solvent

Switchable Surfactants Hydrophobic molecules do not dissolve well in water. Given that water is a very commonly used solvent, this makes certain processes very difficult washing oily food residue off dishes, cleaning up spilled oil, keeping the oil and water phases of salad dressings well mixed, and carrying out chemical reactions that involve both hydrophobic and hydrophilic components. 

FIGURE 8,1 The process by which a switchable-hydrophilicity solvent can be used to extract soybean oil from soybean flakes without a distillation step. The dashed hues indicate the recycling of the solvent and the aqueous phase. From Jessop et al. (2010) by permission of the Royal Society of Chemistry. 

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