The misnomer steric stabilization

Heller and Pugh (1954) correctly recognized that the stability imparted to colloidal particles by naturally occurring polymers often contains both electrostatic and polymeric components. Nonionic macromolecules, such as poly(oxyethylene), can only impart stability by virtue of their polymeric 

We note parenthetically that Koelmans and Overbeek (1954) used the term steric hindrance stabilization contemporaneously with Heller and Pugh to refer to stabilization in nonaqueous dispersion media by n-alkyl tails. 

The choice of the term steric by Heller and Pugh (1954) was singularly unfortunate. The word steric has definite connotations in organic chemistry steric interactions refer to the electron-electron (and nucleus-nucleus) repulsions that occur between nonbonded, and usually bulky, substituents that exist in close proximity to one another in a molecule. They can be considered to be covered by the general term Bom repulsion. As such, they are very-short range in character (extending only a few tenths of a nanometre) and can be traced back to their primordial source, the operation of the Pauli exclusion principle. 

Scheutjens and Fleer (1982) have recently suggested that the term adsorption stabilization replace steric stabilization. Adoption of this recommendation would be ill-advised because the stabilizing moieties that impart stability do not have to be adsorbed at the surface of the particle, merely attached (e.g. terminally). Finally, we remark parenthetically that it may prove possible in the future to impart colloid stability by a genuine steric mechanism (i.e. by the direct operation of the Pauli exclusion principle). Indeed, biopolymers with a rigid structure (e.g. helices) when attached to colloidal particles may conceivably function in this way. Additionally, certain lipid films may well exhibit some facets of bona fide steric stabilization. 

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