MEASURE SELF DIFFUSION COEFFICIENT OF ALL SPECIES PRESENT IN REVERSE MICELLE SYS

University Of Wisconsin Madison, Madison WI

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Abstract

Reverse micelles have a wide variety of applications. They can be used as microreactors to carry reactions of interest to the biotech industry and have numerous pharmaceutical applications relating to facilitating the delivery of drugs. However, for the full potential of these applications to be reached one must understand the environment that the solute experiences when placed inside a reverse micelle. In order to characterize this internal micelle environment, we are using 31P NMR to monitor the apparent pH of the water present inside the reverse micelles as a function of the water/surfactant ratios and oil/surfactant ratios. This information, when coupled with viscosity studies, allow us to delineate how the internal micelle environment is modified. We now propose to further characterize the reverse micelle, and its internal environment, by measuring the self-diffusion coefficients of all species present in the system through the use of Fourier Transform Pulsed Field Gradient Spin-Echo experiments.