Non-micellar phase

This chapter is concerned with experiments and theory for semidilute and concentrated block copolymer solutions.The focus is on the thermodynamics, i.e. the phase behaviour of both micellar solutions and non-micellar (e.g. swollen lamellar) phases. The chapter is organized very simply Section 4.2 contains a general account of gelation in block copolymer solutions. Section 4.3 is concerned with the solution phase behaviour of poly(oxyethylene)-containing diblocks and tri-blocks. The phase behaviour of styrenic block copolymers in selective solvents is discussed in Section 4.4. Section 4.5 is then concerned with theories for ordered block copolymer solutions, including both non-micellar phases in semidilute solutions and micellar gels. There has been little work on the dynamics of semidilute and concentrated block copolymer solutions, and this is reflected by the limited discussion of this subject in this chapter. 

Evers EL, Jayson GG. Determination by pulse radiolysis of the distribution of solubilizates between micellar and non-micellar phases. J Chem Soc, Faraday Trans I 1980 76 528-536. 

The distribution of solubilizates between micellar and non-micellar phases have also been employed effectively for quantitative measurements of the extent of micellar solubilization (Tong and Glesmann, 1957a Patel and Kostenbauder, 1958 Nogami ef aZ., 1962 Winters and Grunwald, 1965 Anderson and Slade, 1966 Bunton and Robinson, 1968,1969b). The determination of the distribution coefficient of methyl... 

Data on absorption of non-micellar lipids in the presence of bile salts is available from the study )y Knoebel [79]. The lymphatic transport of absorbed oleic acid and site of uptake from the intestinal lumen was measured in bile fistula rats. It was found that the concentration of bile salts in a continuous intraduodenal infusion did not affect the steady-state level of lipid appearing in the lymph until the bile salt concentration was as low as 1 mM, which represented a molar ratio of 20 1 of lipid to bile salt. In the case of infusates with relatively low concentrations of bile salts it was found that a larger part of the available surface area of the small intestine was utilized. The main conclusion is that lipids are equally well absorbed in vivo from non-micellar dispersions of lipids and bile salts as from solutions where the lipids are completely solubilized by bile salt mixed micelles. However, a detailed analysis of kinetics of uptake from non-micellar phases in vitro with isolated intestinal segments has not yet been done. 

Nonionic surfactants with pronounced hydrophilic character behave like ionic surfactants they show a normal micellar formation in the aqueous phase with a hydrocarbon non-micellar phase in equilibrium. Higher surfactant concentrations give rise to liquid crystalline phases with a structure dependent on the length of the hydrophilic part of the surfactant. 

Very hydrophobic analytes Low solubility in the aqueous phase. They are totally incorporated into the micelle and cannot be separated Addition of CDs to achiral surfactant solutions, which can include hydrophobic compounds changing the apparent distribution coefficients between the micelle and the non-micellar phases... 

The Pseudo-Phase Model Consider a process in which surfactant is added to water that is acting as a solvent. Initially the surfactant dissolves as monomer species, either as molecules for a non-ionic surfactant or as monomeric ions for an ionic surfactant. When the concentration of surfactant reaches the CMC, a micelle separates from solution. In the pseudo-phase model,20 the assumption is made that this micelle is a separate pure phase that is in equilibrium with the dissolved monomeric surfactant. To maintain equilibrium, continued addition of surfactant causes the micellar phase to grow, with the concentration of the monomer staying constant at the CMC value. This relationship is shown in Figure 18.14 in which we plot m, the stoichiometric molality,y against mj, the molality of the monomer in the solution. Below the CMC, m = m2, while above the CMC, m2 = CMC and the fraction a of the surfactant present as monomer... 

We note that earlier research focused on the similarities of defect interaction and their motion in block copolymers and thermotropic nematics or smectics [181, 182], Thermotropic liquid crystals, however, are one-component homogeneous systems and are characterized by a non-conserved orientational order parameter. In contrast, in block copolymers the local concentration difference between two components is essentially conserved. In this respect, the microphase-separated structures in block copolymers are anticipated to have close similarities to lyotropic systems, which are composed of a polar medium (water) and a non-polar medium (surfactant structure). The phases of the lyotropic systems (such as lamella, cylinder, or micellar phases) are determined by the surfactant concentration. Similarly to lyotropic phases, the morphology in block copolymers is ascertained by the volume fraction of the components and their interaction. Therefore, in lyotropic systems and in block copolymers, the dynamics and annihilation of structural defects require a change in the local concentration difference between components as well as a change in the orientational order. Consequently, if single defect transformations could be monitored in real time and space, block copolymers could be considered as suitable model systems for studying transport mechanisms and phase transitions in 2D fluid materials such as membranes [183], lyotropic liquid crystals [184], and microemulsions [185],... 

Butler, E. C Hayes, K. F. Micellar Solubilization of Non-Aqueous Phase Liquid Contaminants by Nonionic Surfactant Mixtures Effects of Sorption, Partitioning and Mixing, Water Research, 1998, 32, 1345-1354. 

Typically, micelles tend to be approximately spherical over a fairly wide range of concentration above the c.m.c., but often there are marked transitions to larger, non-spherical liquid-crystal structures at high concentrations. Systems containing spherical micelles tend to have low viscosities, whereas liquid-crystal phases tend to have high viscosities. The free energies of transition between micellar phases tend to be small and, consequently, the phase diagrams for these systems tend to be quite complicated and sensitive to additives. 

Typically, in gradient elution liquid chromatography, electrochemical detection has been difficult due to base-line shifts that result as a consequence of the altered mobile phase composition. However, a unique property of micelles allows for much improved compatibility of gradients (i.e. gradient in terms of micellar concentration or variation of small amount of additive such as pentanol) with electrochemical detectors. This has been demonstrated by the separation and electrochemical detection of phenols using micellar gradient LC (488). A surfactant (apparently non-micellar) gradient elution with electrochemical detection has also been successfully applied for the assay of some thyroid hormones by LC (491). 

When both the micellar phase and the aqueous phase were completely saturated, the observed rate constant was found to increase up to a surfactant concentration of 0-04 m, however at higher concentrations it was found to be independent of the benzaldehyde and the surfactant concentration and also of the chain length of the non-ionic amphiphile. Under these conditions the concentration of the aldehyde in the micellar phase, is given by... 

Typical surfactant-water-phase diagrams are shown in Fig. 3.4 for single-chained ionic, and non-ionic surfactants respectively. Below a "Krafft" temperature characteristic of each surfactant, the chains are crystalline and the surfactant precipitates as a solid. Increased surfactant concentration (Fig. 3.4) results in sharp phase boundaries between micellar rod-shaped (hexagonal), bilayer (lamellar) and reversed hexagonal and reversed micellar phases. (The "cubic" phases, bicontinuous, will be ignored in this section and dealt with in Chapters 4,5 and 7.)... 

Surfactant molecules are in dynamic equilibrium among three possible states (monomers adsorbed at the interface of the aqueous solution with a non-polar phase, monomers molecularly dispersed in the solution, and micellar aggregates formed when the CMC is reached). From various theoretical considerations, as well as experimental results, it can be said that micelles are dynamic structures whose stability is in the range of milliseconds to seconds.2223 Thus, in an aqueous surfactant solution, micelles break and reform at a fairly rapid rate, in the range of milliseconds.24 26... 

Over 50 methods have been employed in the literature to determine CMC values of bile salt solutions (reviewed in [6]). These can be divided into two broad categories (a) methods requiring no physical or chemical additive in the bulk solution and (b) methods involving the use of an additive in the bulk solution. The former methods, also called non-invasive, include surface tension and the measurements of a variety of colligative bulk properties (conductivity, turbidimetry, osmometry, self-diffusion, refractive index, modal volumes, electrometric force) or electromagnetic bulk properties (NMR, sound velocity and adsorption, etc.), all as functions of bile salt concentration. The second set of methods, also called invasive, depends upon a change in some physical or chemical property of an additive which occurs with the formation of micelles. These include the spectral change of a water-soluble dye, micellar solubilization of a water-insoluble dye, interfacial tension at liquid-liquid interfaces, and partition coefficients between aqueous and immiscible non-polar phases. Whereas a detailed discussion of the merits and demerits of both approaches can be found elsewhere [6], non-invasive methods which are correctly utilized provide the most reliable CMC values. 

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