Micelles inverse solutions

Elsevier and co-workers [30] reported an example of a selective C-H band activation with sodium tetrachloroplatinate in inverse micelles. A solution of the catalyst in D2O was dispersed in the presence of AOT in either n-heptane or methylcyclohexane. CH/CD exchange was observed under mild conditions in the CH3 groups with high selectivity. 

The traditional association colloid is of the M R" type where R" is the surfactant ion, studied in aqueous solution. Such salts also form micelles in nonaqueous and nonpolar solvents. These structures, termed inverse micelles, have the polar groups inward if some water is present [198] however, the presence of water may prevent the observation of a well-deflned CMC [198,199]. Very complex structures may be formed in nearly anhydrous media (see Ref. 200). 

Surfactants have also been of interest for their ability to support reactions in normally inhospitable environments. Reactions such as hydrolysis, aminolysis, solvolysis, and, in inorganic chemistry, of aquation of complex ions, may be retarded, accelerated, or differently sensitive to catalysts relative to the behavior in ordinary solutions (see Refs. 205 and 206 for reviews). The acid-base chemistry in micellar solutions has been investigated by Drummond and co-workers [207]. A useful model has been the pseudophase model [206-209] in which reactants are either in solution or solubilized in micelles and partition between the two as though two distinct phases were involved. In inverse micelles in nonpolar media, water is concentrated in the micellar core and reactions in the micelle may be greatly accelerated [206, 210]. The confining environment of a solubilized reactant may lead to stereochemical consequences as in photodimerization reactions in micelles [211] or vesicles [212] or in the generation of radical pairs [213]. 

Figure C2.17.2. Transmission electron micrograph of a gold nanoneedle. Inverse micelle environments allow for a great deal of control not only over particle size, but also particle shape. In this example, gold nanocrystals were prepared using a photolytic method in surfactant-rich solutions the surfactant interacts strongly with areas of low curvature, thus continued growth can occur only at the sharjD tips of nanocrystals, leading to the fonnation of high-aspect-ratio nanostmctures [52].

Dendrimers can also be prepared with an inverse relationship between their hydrophobic and hydrophilic constituents, i.e. with a hydrophobic periphery and a hydrophilic interior. They can then behave as reverse micelles and are able to concentrate polar molecules from solutions of nonpolar solvents. The shape of these molecules, when dissolved in a solvent that matches the hydrophobic nature of the periphery, is spherical with chain-ends extended towards the solvent. The interior may then collapse to a minimum volume, so that unfavourable interactions that might result from penetration by solvent molecules are minimized. 

FIGURE 1.2. Formation of nanoparticles of metal oxide by reverse micelle method. A solution of inverse micelles is first formed by adding a long-chain alkylamine to a toluene solution. A small amount of water is trapped in the reverse micelle core. Mixing the reverse micelle solution with an aluminum alkoxy amine adduct results in hydrolysis of the aluminum alkoxide adduct and formation of nano-sized particles of aluminum oxyhydroxide after drying. These particles are shown in the SEM picture above. 

It can therefore be concluded that the aggregation of the monofunctional molecules in dilute solution of a nonpolar solvent leads to the formation of star-type inverse micelles of narrow molecular weight distribution. In addition, the extremely small CMC shows that the relative amount of material dissolved as unimers can be neglected at concentrations above 1%. 

C (point a), a single phase between 28°C and 55°C (points b and c) and again two phases above 55 C (point d). At high X gp the situation becomes very complex. Only one case is shown for = 0.70. At Xj gp 0.755 a clear solution is observed below 20 C (point e , a cloudy mixture appears above 20 C but does not unmix (point g), and two distinct phases are present above 35 C (point k). We are possibly in a region where liquid crystals or inverse micelles are formed. 

In MLC, the mobile phase consists of surfactants at concentrations above their critical micelle concentration (CMC) in an aqueous solvent with an alkyl-bonded phase (52). Retention behavior in MLC is controlled by solute partitioning from the bulk solvent into micelles and into stationary phase as well as on direct transfer from the micelles in the mobile phase into the stationary phase. Eluent strength in MLC is inversely related to micelle concentration. A linear relationship exists between the inverse of retention factor and micelle concentration. Similar to what is observed in RPLC, a linear relationship exists between retention in MLC and , the volume fraction of the organic modifier. Modeling retention in MLC is much more complicated than in RPLC. The number of parameters is important. Micelles are obviously a new domain in both liquid chromatography and electrophoresis. Readers interested in the topic will appreciate Ref. 53, a special volume on it. 

The temperature (or salinity) at which optimal temperature (or optimal salinity), because at that temperature (or salinity) the oil—water interfacial tension is a minimum, which is optimum for oil recovery. For historical reasons, the optimal temperature is also known as the HLB (hydrophilic—lipophilic balance) temperature (42,43) or phase inversion temperature (PIT) (44). For most systems, all three tensions are very low for Tlc < T < Tuc, and the tensions of the middle-phase microemulsion with the other two phases can be in the range 10 5—10 7 N/m. These values are about three orders of magnitude smaller than the interfacial tensions produced by nonmicroemulsion surfactant solutions near the critical micelle concentration. Indeed, it is this huge reduction of interfacial tension which makes micellar-polymer EOR and its SEAR counterpart physically possible. 

The phase behaviour established for concentrated aqueous solutions of PEO-PPO-PEO copolymers has its counterpart in PEO/PBO copolymer solutions. A phase diagram for PE058PB0i7PE0M based on tube inversion experiments is shown in Fig. 4.14 (Luo et al. 1992). The hard gel is isotropic under the polarizing microscope and can be characterized as a cubic phase formed from spherical micelles of a similar size to those in the dilute micellar solution. 

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