Reverse micelles solubilization

Micelles are mainly important because they solubilize immiscible solvents in their cores. Nonnal micelles solubilize relatively large quantities of oil or hydrocarbon and reverse micelles solubilize large quantities of water. This is because the headgroups are water loving and the tailgroups are oil loving. These simple solubilization trends produce microemulsions (see section C2.3.11). 

It is of particular interest to be able to correlate solubility and partitioning with the molecular stmcture of the surfactant and solute. Likes dissolve like is a well-wom plirase that appears applicable, as we see in microemulsion fonnation where reverse micelles solubilize water and nonnal micelles solubilize hydrocarbons. Surfactant interactions, geometrical factors and solute loading produce limitations, however. There appear to be no universal models for solubilization that are readily available and that rest on molecular stmcture. Correlations of homologous solutes in various micellar solutions have been reviewed by Nagarajan [52]. Some examples of solubilization, such as for polycyclic aromatics in dodecyl sulphonate micelles, are driven by hydrophobic... 

At infinite dilution, 1-pentanol monomers distribute between AOT-reversed micelles and the continuous organic phase, whereas at finite alcohol concentration, given the ability of alcohol to self-assemble in the apolar organic solvent, a coexistence between reversed micelles (solubilizing 1-pentanol) and alcoholic aggregates (incorporating AOT molecules) is realized [25],... 

FIG. 6 Representation of spherical water-containing reversed micelles solubilizing a polar molecule (p) in the micellar core (A) or an amphiphilic molecule (a) in the palisade layer (B). 

Solubilization of water. Detergency is defined as the ability of surfactant molecules to solubilize water molecules or polar substances in soft-core and hardcore RMs. Thus, micellization and solubilization are competitive processes. Any solubilized probe molecule causes a decrease in the CMC. Solubilization describes the dissolution of a solid, liquid or gas by an interaction with surfactant molecules. Addition of water has a dramatic effect on surfactant aggregation in hydrocarbons because hydrogen bonding has an appreciable stabilizing effect on reverse micelles. Solubilization for reverse micelles is phenomenologically similar to the adsorption processes (Eicke and Christen, 1978 Kitahara, 1980 Kitahara et al., 1976 Singleterry, 1955). 

Bile salts Sodium deoxycholate Sodium glycocholate Sodium taurocholate Formation of reverse micelles, solubilization of proteins/peptides Removal of epithelial cells and formation of transient pores Inhibition of proteolytic activity Reduction of mucus viscosity... 

The normal micelles and reverse micelles solubilize both hydrophilic and lipophilic drugs. The normal micellar solubilization increases the bioavailability of the poorly soluble drugs, whereas, the reverse micellar solubilization allows sustained release of the medicament. 

Micelles and reversed micelles are able to solubilize substances which are insoluble in the bulk phase of the system considered. This solubilization is due to a solvation by the amphiphile and concomitantly a change in the order of the solubilized molecules may occur as a consequence of its modified solvation shell. In this sense reversed micelles of detergents in hydrophobic solvents with solubilized water in the core are... 

The conformation of bovine myelin basic protein (MBP) in AOT/isooctane/water reversed micellar systems was studied by Waks et al. 67). This MBP is an extrinsic water soluble protein which attains an extended conformation in aqueous solution 68 but is more density packed at the membrane surface. The solubilization of MBP in the AOT reversed micelles depends on the water/AOT-ratio w0 68). The maximum of solubilization was observed at a w0-value as low as 5.56. The same value was obtained for another major protein component of myelin, the Folch-Pi proteolipid 69). According to fluorescence emission spectra of MBP, accessibility of the single tryptophane residue seems to be decreased in AOT reversed micelles. From CD-spectra one can conclude that there is a higher conformational rigidity in reversed micelles and a more ordered aqueous environment. 

Recent development of the use of reversed micelles (aqueous surfactant aggregates in organic solvents) to solubilize significant quantities of nonpolar materials within their polar cores can be exploited in the development of new concepts for the continuous selective concentration and recovery of heavy metal ions from dilute aqueous streams. The ability of reversed micelle solutions to extract proteins and amino acids selectively from aqueous media has been recently demonstrated the results indicate that strong electrostatic interactions are the primary basis for selectivity. The high charge-to-surface ratio of the valuable heavy metal ions suggests that they too should be extractable from dilute aqueous solutions. 

The main peculiarity of solutions of reversed micelles is their ability to solubilize a wide class of ionic, polar, apolar, and amphiphilic substances. This is because in these systems a multiplicity of domains coexist apolar bulk solvent, the oriented alkyl chains of the surfactant, and the hydrophilic head group region of the reversed micelles. Ionic and polar substances are hosted in the micellar core, apolar substances are solubilized in the bulk apolar solvent, whereas amphiphilic substances are partitioned between the bulk apolar solvent and the domain comprising the alkyl chains and the surfactant polar heads, i.e., the so-called palisade layer [24],... 

Generally, solubilization occurs spontaneously when the pure solubilizate contacts the solution of reversed micelles. Often, vigorous stirring consistently reduces the time necessary to obtain complete solubihzation and thermodynamically stable systems. 

In spite of the potentialities of reversed micelles entrapping nonaqueous highly polar solvents [34], very few investigations on the solubilization in such systems are reported in the literature. An example is the study of the solubilization of zinc-tetraphenylporphyrin (ZnTPP) in ethylene glycol/AOT/hydrocarbon systems by steady-state and transient... 

It is also possible to solubilize finite amounts of solid substances within reversed micelles [38 0], For example, in Figure 2, the UV-vis spectrum of CoCNOs) solubilized in reversed micelles of C12E4 is compared with that of a thin film of bulk Co(N03)2. It is interesting to note both similarities and differences between the two spectra. Another example is given by urea, which, as emphasized by the IR spectrum reported in Figure 3, can be... 

Obviously, water, aqueous solutions of salts, and mixtures of highly hydrophilic solvents have also been found to be solubilized in the micellar core [13,44]. The maximum amount of such solubilizates that can be dissolved in reversed micelles varies widely, strongly depending on the nature of the surfactant and the apolar solvent, on the concentrations of surfactant and of additives, and on temperature [24,45-47]. 

In general, solubilization of appropriate substances in a solution of reversed micelles forming a solid, liquid, or gel core within the reversed micelle is the preliminary step to realize systems easily handled and interesting both from the theoretical and the practical points of view. 

The small and positive values of enthalpy of solution of water in AOT-reversed micelles indicate that its energetic state is only slightly changed and that water solubilization (unfavorable from an enthalpic point of view) is driven mainly by a favorable change in entropy (the destructuration of the water at the interface and its dispersion as nanodroplets could be prominent contributions) [87],... 

The solubilization of water in lecithin-reversed micelles has been found to be an exothermic process. This finding confirms that water interacts with the zwitterionic head group of lecithin, promoting the formation of strong intermolecular H bonds [104]. 

The cobalt, nickel, and copper bis(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate surfactants dissolved in n-heptane lead to quasi-one-dimensional association microstructures, i.e., rodlike reversed micelles that increase in size via water solubilization [111],... 

Since very often the physicochemical properties of solubilizates are modified when they are entrapped in reversed micelles, almost all the experimental techniques can been used, and have been used, to study solubilization [28,31,118-122]. 

In recent decades, many investigations have been carried out on the solubilization and on the physicochemical characterization of a wide variety of substances confined in water-containing reversed micelles. Even if these studies have not produced a general theory to predict a priori all the effects accompanying the solubihzation process, some general aspects nonetheless have been underhned. In the following, the results of some of these investigations, selected to show the extent of some peculiar behaviors, will be reported. 

Electrolytes are obviously solubilized only in the aqueous micellar core. Adding electrolytes in water-containing AOT-reversed micelles has an effect that is opposite to that observed for direct micelles, i.e., a decrease in the micellar radius and in the intermicellar attractive interactions is observed. This has been attributed to the stabilization of AOT ions at the water/surfactant interface [128]. 

Sometimes, the physicochemical properties of ionic species solubilized in the aqueous core of reversed micelles are different from those in bulk water. Changes in the electronic absorption spectra of ionic species (1 , Co ", Cu " ) entrapped in AOT-reversed micelles have been observed, attributed to changes in the amount of water available for solvation [2,92,134], In particular, it has been observed that at low water concentrations cobalt ions are solubihzed in the micellar core as a tetrahedral complex, whereas with increasing water concentration there is a gradual conversion to an octahedral complex [135],... 

In addition to the degree of hydrophilicity of the solubilizates, their size and structure, the size of the host microregions, or the occurrence of specific processes must be taken into account in order to rationalize the driving forces of the solubilization process and of the solubilization site within water-containing reversed micelles [25,138,139],... 

In the case of Kryptofix 221D, a cryptand able to complex the alkali metal cations [141-143], it has been observed that it is solubilized mainly in the palisade layer of the AOT-reversed micelles. And from an analysis of the enthalpy of transfer of this solubilizate from the organic to the micellar phase it has been established that the driving force of the solubilization is the complexation of the sodium counterion. In addition, the enthalpy... 

The solubilization of amino acids in AOT-reversed micelles has been widely investigated showing the importance of the hydrophobic effect as a driving force in interfacial solubihzation [153-157]. Hydrophilic amino acids are solubilized in the aqueous micellar core through electrostatic interactions. The amino acids with strongly hydrophobic groups are incorporated mainly in the interfacial layer. The partition coefficient for tryptophan and micellar shape are affected by the loading ratio of tryptophan to AOT [158],... 

By IR spectroscopy it was emphasized that the solubilization of amino acids or ohgopeptides in water-containing lecithin-reversed micelles involves structural changes in the aqueous micellar core [159]. 

The solubilization of enzymes and proteins in water-containing reversed micelles has attracted a great deal of interest for their selective separation, purification, and efficient refolding and for bioreactions involving a wide class of polar, apolar, and amphiphilic reactants and products [13,44,162-164]. 

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