Diffusion-Controlled Reactions in Micellar Systems

Abstract

ABSTRACTReaction kinetics in micellar solutions are studied theoretically with an emphasis on diffusioncontrolled luminescence quenching. Different spatial arrangements of reactants within individual micelles are analyzed and a general method for treating diffusion-controlled reactions in a finite volume employing an effective potential approximation is developed. Several models are considered for the exchange of reactants between micelles including migration mediated by the bulk phase and successive multiparticle hopping through transient channels connecting micelles during their sticky collisions. These results are combined in a general stochastic theory of reaction kinetics in micellar solutions with exchange. The theory is further extended to reactions in clusters of micelles using a continuous time random walk approach. Once the principal features of micellar kinetics are understood, one can extract important structural and dynamic information on the aggregates and their guest molecules by analyzing suitably designed experiments.