Charge density Charged micelles

Wallin, T. and P. Linse (1996b). Monte Carlo simulations of polyelectrolytes at charged micelles. 2. Effects of linear charge density. The Journal of Physical Chemistry 100(45) 17873-17880. 

Radicals generated from water-soluble initiator might not enter a micelle (14) because of differences in surface-charge density. It is postulated that radical entry is preceded by some polymerization of the monomer in the aqueous phase. The very short oligomer chains are less soluble in the aqueous phase and readily enter the micelles. Other theories exist to explain how water-soluble radicals enter micelles (15). The micelles are presumed to be the principal locus of particle nucleation (16) because of the large surface area of micelles relative to the monomer droplets. 

Micellization depends upon a balance of forces and the cmc decreases with increasing hydrophobicity of the apolar groups, and for ionic amphiphiles also depends on the nature and concentration of counterions in solution. Added electrolytes decrease the cmc, and the effect increases with decreasing charge density of the counterion. Divalent counterions, however, lead to... 

The cmc decreases with increasing chain length of the apolar groups, and is higher for ionic than for non-ionic or zwitterionic micelles. For ionic micelles it is reduced by addition of electrolytes, especially those having low charge density counterions (Mukerjee and Mysels, 1970). Added solutes or cosolvents which disrupt the three-dimensional structure of water break up micelles, unless the solute is sufficiently apolar to be micellar bound (Ionescu et al., 1984). 

The fractional ionization, a, of ionic micelles is increased by hydrophobic non-ionic solutes which decrease the charge density at the micellar surface and the binding of counterions (Larsen and Tepley, 1974 Zana, 1980 Bunton and de Buzzaccarini, 1982). Consistently, microemulsion droplets are less effective at binding counterions than otherwise similar micelles. 

Counterion Binding. The fractional counterion binding on charged mixed micelles is of fundamental interest because it gives an indication of surface charge density which is related to the mechanism of mixing nonidealities in ionic/nonionic micelles. It is also a necessary... 

O, the surface charge density of the micelle and At, a constant of the system. For simplification, it is assumed that the surface charge density of the micelle does not change appreciably when the alcohol molecules are solubilized into the micelle. Then the equation for the micelle formation may be written as... 

The data clearly indicate that the surface pH of the bile salt micelle is higher than the surface pH of a lauryl taurate micelle for a given bulk pH—i.e., the difference between bulk and surface pH is less with the bile salt micelle. The bile salt micelle should have a lower charge density and therefore a lower concentration of protons at the surface of the micelle. Therefore, the observed bulk pH at which micellar fatty acid ionizes is closer to the bulk pKa of molecularly dispersed fatty acid (4.9) in bile salt solution than in lauryl taurate solution. 

In ionic block copolymers, micellization occurs in a solvent that is selective for one of the blocks, as for non-ionic block copolymers. However, the ionic character of the copolymer introduces a new parameter governing the structure and properties of micellar structures. In particular, the ionic strength plays an important role in the conformation of the copolymer, and the presence of a high charge density leads to some specific properties unique to ionic block copolymers. Many of the studies on ionic block copolymers have been undertaken with solvents selective for the ionic polyelectrolyte block, generally water or related solvents, such as water-methanol mixtures. However, it has been observed that it is often difficult to dissolve ionic hydrophilic-hydrophobic block copolymers in water. These dissolution problems are far more pronounced than for block copolymers in non-aqueous selective solvents, although they do not always reflect real insolubility. In many cases, dissolution can be achieved if a better solvent is used first and examples of the use of cosolvents are listed by Selb and Gallot (1985). 

Statistical mechanics was originally formulated to describe the properties of systems of identical particles such as atoms or small molecules. However, many materials of industrial and commercial importance do not fit neatly into this framework. For example, the particles in a colloidal suspension are never strictly identical to one another, but have a range of radii (and possibly surface charges, shapes, etc.). This dependence of the particle properties on one or more continuous parameters is known as polydispersity. One can regard a polydisperse fluid as a mixture of an infinite number of distinct particle species. If we label each species according to the value of its polydisperse attribute, a, the state of a polydisperse system entails specification of a density distribution p(a), rather than a finite number of density variables. It is usual to identify two distinct types of polydispersity variable and fixed. Variable polydispersity pertains to systems such as ionic micelles or oil-water emulsions, where the degree of polydispersity (as measured by the form of p(a)) can change under the influence of external factors. A more common situation is fixed polydispersity, appropriate for the description of systems such as colloidal dispersions, liquid crystals, and polymers. Here the form of p(cr) is determined by the synthesis of the fluid. 

Clearly, the infrared spectra of the sodium and potassium decanoate micellar solutions are considerably different, as are their pressure dependencies. Since the only difference between these two micellar systems is the size, and thus the charge density of the counterions, the different infrared spectra must be taken as evidence that in the alkali decanoate micelles the sodium or potassium counter cations interact differently with the carboxylate groups of the surfactant molecules. 

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