Hydrolytic Reactions in Micelles

Nucleophilic reactions in micelles with water as reagent have been investigated as models of enzymic reactions. The enhancement of the reaction rate as well as the stereoselectivity of the reactions was studied. Typical substrates were activated esters of amino acids [14], carboxylic acids [15], and phosphoric acid [16], and typical catalysts were surface-active peptides with histidine as active component. 

It is noteworthy that metallomicelles of Ni(II) complexes with long-chain N-al-kylated ethylenediamine ligands catalyze the epimerization of aldoses in an aqueous dispersion [24]. A reexamination of the effect of metallomicelles on the hydrolysis of phosphate and carboxylate esters was given by Scrimin et al. [25], Acceleration in second-order reactions are often to interpret as a local concentration increase of the reactants. The catalytic effect of metallosurfactants in enzyme-related reactions has been investigated by Nolte s working group [26], also carefully considering the assembly structure [27]. The wide field of artificial enzymes was recently reviewed by Murakami et al. [28]. 

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