Surfactants

Fluorinated Surfactants for droplet generation

FluoSurf-C™, FluoSurf-O™, and FluoSurf-S™ are high-performance fluorinated surfactants developed by Emulseo for stabilizing aqueous droplets in fluorinated oils. These surfactants are inert block copolymers to maintain stable droplets containing biological or chemical components, making them suitable for a wide range of microfluidic applications.

They are particularly used in droplet-based workflows such as droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) and single-cell analysis, where droplet stability and reproducibility are essential.

Surfactants are available as:

• Surfactant–oil formulations (1–5%) in 10, 20, and 50 mL volumes
• Neat formulations supplied by the gram
• Custom formulations tailored to specific applications

Benefits 

Across the FluoSurf range, the following properties are consistent:

• Droplet stability
  Stabilizes droplets ranging from 10 to 300 µm while supporting high droplet generation frequencies and maintaining stability during heating cycles.

• Biocompatibility
  Suitable for droplets containing biological entities, making the surfactants compatible with biological experiments.

• High purity
  A well-established post-processing method removes impurities, resulting in high-purity surfactants.

• Leakage control
  The system efficiently retains hydrophilic and hydrophobic molecules within droplets by eliminating leakage-related impurities.

• Reproducible production
  Each batch is tested for structure and performance according to strict quality control specifications. A Certificate of Analysis (CoA) is provided for every batch.

• Large-scale production
  Production capacity enables the manufacture of large quantities of surfactants to meet research and industrial demand.

• IP freedom to operate
  The surfactants support a wide range of applications while offering intellectual property freedom to operate.

Different FluoSurf Surfactants

FluoSurf-C

FluoSurf-C™ is a general-purpose fluorinated surfactant designed for stabilising aqueous droplets in fluorinated oils for chemical and biotechnological applications. It is particularly suited for droplet-based microfluidic experiments such as ddPCR and single-cell analysis.

In addition to the core characteristics described above, FluoSurf-C™ supports stable droplet formation across a wide size range and maintains performance during heating cycles.

Storage:

• Neat: up to 4 years at room temperature
• Diluted in fluorinated oil: up to 1 year at room temperature, protected from light

FluoSurf-O

FluoSurf-O™ is designed for the same applications as FluoSurf-C™, with the added advantage of low autofluorescence. This makes it especially suitable for workflows involving fluorescent dyes, including detection at low concentrations.

It retains the same stability, purity, and reproducibility characteristics, while enabling improved signal clarity in fluorescence-based assays.

Storage:

• Neat: up to 4 years at room temperature
• Diluted in fluorinated oil: up to 1 year at room temperature, protected from light

FluoSurf-S

FluoSurf-S™ is optimized for applications requiring enhanced stability under demanding conditions, particularly thermocycling. It is suitable for droplet-based microfluidic experiments such as ddPCR and single-cell analysis, where temperature variations can impact droplet integrity.

This surfactant is particularly effective in maintaining droplet stability during heating cycles, including more extreme thermal conditions.

Storage:

• Neat: up to 4 years at room temperature
• Diluted in fluorinated oil: up to 1 year at room temperature, protected from light

Applications: 

• Droplet Digital PCR (ddPCR): Precision DNA quantification.
• Single-cell analysis: analysis of individual cells.
• Encapsulation of small molecules: Minimizes leaks in sensitive experiments.