Aggregation time scale

Closer observation of the aggregation time scale shows that it is inversely proportional to the characteristic total aggregate number density Nt, which is related to the characteristic disperse-phase volume fraction 0p. When the system is dilute (i.e.

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Highly monodisperse reversed micelles are formed by sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl) sul-fosuccinate (AOT) dissolved in hydrocarbons that are in equilibrium with monomers whose concentration (cmc) is 4 X 10 M, have a mean aggregation number of about 23, a radius of 15 A, exchange monomers with the bulk in a time scale of 10 s, and dissolve completely in a time scale of 10 s [1,2,4,14], Other very interesting surfactants able to form reversed micelles in a variety of apolar solvents have been derived from this salt by simple replacing the sodium counterion with many other cations [15,16],... 

Vesicles [10, 11] these aggregates of insoluble natural or artificial amphiphiles in water can have various shapes (spherical, cylindrical). Depending on the preparation conditions, small unilamellar or large multilamellar vesicles can be produced. The structures meet the self-organization criterion, because they are, albeit on a long time scale, dynamic and not in thermodynamic equilibrium, which would in many cases be a macroscopically phase separated lamellar phase. 

From the mechanism and values of the rate constants, the formation of B occurs very rapidly within a few hundred picoseconds and AB is formed on the microsecond time scale. These species exhibit characteristic absorption bands in the 550 to 600 nm region of the spectrum. At very long times, i.e. several seconds of steady state irradiation, the red shift in the absorption band is complete and presumably due to AnB as suggested by Krongauz (1 —2) Thus far, it has not been possible to clearly time resolve the formation of aggregates from AB dimers, although subtleties in the transient absorption indicate this is occurring. For instance, the time resolved buildup in absorbance at the red end of 600 nm band seems to be slower than it is 10 or 20 nm further to the blue. This may indicate a process such as ... 

The long lifetime of phosphorescence allows it to be used for processes which are slow—on the millisecond to microsecond time scale. Among these processes are the turnover time of enzymes and diffusion of large aggregates or smaller proteins in a restricted environment, such as, for example, proteins in membranes. Phosphorescence anisotropy is one method to study these processes, giving information on rotational diffusion. Quenching by external molecules is another potentially powerful method in this case it can lead to information on tryptophan location and the structural dynamics of the protein. 

The explanation offered for this unusual spectroscopic behavior is the existence of stable, dimeric aggregates. Due to the symmetry of l-/ -corannulenes, face-to-face association results in two topologically different dimers (dl and meso). Moreover, the lack of any signal coalescence in either or NMR up to room temperature suggests that these dimers are unusually stable, and do not dissociate on the NMR time scale. ... 

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