Preface

This book arose out of a series of advanced lectures given in October 2002 at the China Research Institute for Daily Chemical Industry (RIDCI) TaiYuan.(Editor's note: Pdf files (require Adobe Acrobat Reader, available free here) for the chapters are listed at the base of this preface in English, or in Chinese here). RIDCI is one of the most important institutes for fundamental and practical Colloid Science in China; furthermore, the centre has a long proud track record of innovation in surfactant chemistry.

I was greatly honoured to be invited by The Director, Professor Zhang, to explore possibilities for collaboration between the groups in TaiYuan and Bristol. In order to begin the process of establishing a dialogue, we thought it would be a good idea for me to give lectures in English. In advance of the visit I prepared a booklet of notes, which not only supported the lectures for the audience, but also went into more specialised research areas.

The lectures were to be delivered using state-of-the-art computer projection facilities. To make sure all the technology would run smoothly I sent ahead of me a CD containing both the presentation files and the text for the lecture notes. The package arrived at RIDCI only a few days before I arrived: I was astonished to find that in this short period PhD students from Prof Zhang’s group has translated all of the English text into Chinese! This was an impressive demonstration of the boundless energies, and positive attitude of Chinese students. The book is, in part, based on original English text and this first translation.

In addition the lectures were translated live, by long time colleague and good friend Zhiping Du (RIDCI and University of Leeds).

The book has been produced in a page-by-page “mirror image” format: a page of Chinese text, maps on directly to the right hand page in English. The aim is to broaden the appeal of colloid and surface science in China, and it is hoped that the complementary English-Chinese format will help attract students to the area, by enhancing both scientific understanding and also communication skills.

We would like to thank the following students for their hard work in translating the text: Xinlin Hong, Yinyan Zhu, Jian Zhang, Xiaoyun Hou, Yue Zhang, Jie Zhang, Changhui Xue, Zhiping Cheng, Jianguo Yao, Dengwei Jing, and Lijing Ma; Drs Xiaohai Zhou and Jinfeng Dong transformed the initial manuscript into its final form. Without your efforts the book would not be possible and so it is very much your work – congratulations!

We gratefully acknowledge the support and encouragement from the School of Postgraduate and College of Chemistry & Molecular Sciences, Wuhan University.

Dr. Julian EASTOE Bristol UK - 12 May 2003

Pdf files:

Cover

Chapter 1: Surfactant Chemistry and General Phase Behaviour

Chapter 2: Aggregation and Adsorption at Interfaces

Chapter 3: Microemulsions

Chapter 4: Scattering Techniques