This report summarizes four years of research jointly funded by the Department of Energy and by a number of companies all interested in enhanced oil recovery using micellar/polymer processes. The fundemental thrust of the research was to study the influence of surfactant structure on those physical chemical aspects such as oil/water interfacial tensions and adsorption which have an impact on the efficiency of the flooding process. The role of surfactant structure is therefore the unifying theme which links all of the various projects described here. In many cases we perceived the rieed to carry out studies using surfactant systems which were essentially pure. During the middle and latter phases of this project that· part of our research team responsible for the synthesis of pure surfactants developed methods which provided surfactants of high quality. Tests using various techniques (NMR, phase behavior, etc.) were carried out to ensure their quality. This capability contributed greatly to the significance of the results.