The Studies on Hydrophilic-Lipophilic Balance (HLB): Sixty Years after William C. Griffin's Pioneer Work (1949-2009)

SUMMARY. The Hydrophilic-Lipophilic Balance (HLB)was formally presented by William C. Griffin sixty years ago at a meeting in Chicago for the first time and later on in an article published in the first volume of the Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists. In later publications, Griffin proposed formulas for the HLB value calculation that are satisfactory for non-ionic surfactants of various types. Several experimental methods developed then in order to obtain the HLB values of surfactants and required HLB of oils in a way simpler than with Griffin’s original experimental method. Also there were proposed mathematical equations that HLB values of surfactants allows to calculate from its chemical formulae and also from quality control data of surfactants and its components.