Stable colloidal dispersions of triacontanol

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The stable colloidal dispersions of the present invention allow for the uniform application of a large number of very small crystalline triacontanol particles, and thus are capable of more consistently stimulating plant growth than are the triacontanol formulations disclosed in the art.
It is believed that previous formulations have often been prepared by dissolving the triacontanol in an organic solvent such as chloroform, acetone or Tween 20.
The solutions are then mixed with water, which can also contain an emulsifying agent, to precipitate triacontanol particles.
Such formulations, while producing a certain amount of colloidal triacontanol particles, typically result in a large mean particle size (e.
g.
, a mean particle radius of at least several microns) and a correspondingly small particle number concentration.
A significant, but ill-defined, fraction of the triacontanol precipitates as large particles which undergo rapid flocculation.
These formulations therefore provide relatively poor uniformity of application in the field.
Other formulations have been prepared by dissolving the triacontanol in a water-insoluble solvent (e.
g.
, naptha) and then emulsifying with water in the presence of an emulsifying agent.
In these formulations, the triacontanol remains dissolved in the solvent where it has low chemical and biological activity.
Since the particle number concentration of the dispersed triacontanol solution will be small, field applications will also be relatively nonuniform.
In addition, the mixing of the triacontanol solutions with water in both of the above described methods typically occurs just prior to field applications so that the triacontanol particle size and particle number concentration, and hence uniformity of application, are not known or controlled.
In contrast with previous triacontanol formulations, the dispersions herein have a very small triacontanol particle size, which insures good colloidal stability, and a very large particle number concentration