emulsions are micelles, molecular structures with polar, hydrophilic heads, and nonpolar, hydrophobic tails; they are microbubbles, and in this case, the products of alkaline hydrolysis of fatty acids (phospholipids, which compose the structural surface of plant cells). They are created when the basification occurs within the second buffer range, pH = pKa + n, where n < 2; there are several species with partial charge, which are somewhat water soluble, and somewhat hydrophobic. When n > or =2, >99% of your analyte will be deprotonated, and will migrate to the nonpolar phase. The pH will also be high enough to solvate the micelles (into the polar phase).