Kinetics of conformational change during micelle formation in apolar media

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Abstract
According to previously developed ideas on the nucleation process of micelle formation the kinetics of the micellization of an ionic surfactant (Aerosol OT) was studied in various apolar solvents. The applied kinetic method utilizes the dielectric field effect due to a considerable variation of the reaction moment produced by the extensive compensation of the effective dipole moment of the monomers in the micelle. Rotational relaxations of about 120, 23 and 20 MHz in dioxane, benzene and cyclohexane solutions, respectively, were assigned to the expected premicellar aggregates (nuclei) and the micelles; in the latter solutions, however, orientational and chemical relaxation processes are superimposed. The analysis of the corresponding data yields a concentration dependence of the reciprocal relaxation times of the chemical process which conforms very satisfactorily to the corresponding theoretical plot derived from a model which assumes a conformational change between two premicellar states during the formation of the micelle.

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