John C. Russell

Photochemical reactivity in organized assemblies. 24. Solute partitioning in aqueous surfactant assemblies: comparison of hydrophobic-hydrophilic interactions in micelles, alcohol-swollen micelles, microemulsions, and synthetic vesicles

The structures of anionic assemblies including sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) micelles, alcohol-swollen SLS micelles, microemulsions, and vesicles of a mixture of dipalmitoyllecithin and dicetyl phosphate are investigated by using the ground-state complexation of a hydrophilic quencher (methyl viologen) with several hydrophobic fluorescent probes, including surfactant stilbenes and 1,4-diphenylbutadiene. In SLS micelles this complexation can be decreased nearly an order of magnitude by addition of 1-heptanol, indicating that the structure of the micelle can be adjusted from the highly open structure of the pure micelle to a much more closed structure in which hydrophobic solubilizates can be sequestered from hydrophilic reagents bound to the surface. The fluorescence quenching process in anionic vesicles is strongly dependent on temperature; at low temperatures quenching occurs, while at higher temperatures addition of methyl viologen appears to increase the stilbene fluorescence, indicating that the dicationic quencher binds to the vesicle surface, increasing the order of the system. These results indicate that the degree of organization of surfactant systems can be adjusted by simple changes in composition. 33 references.