Exit Rates of Micellar Radicals Measured

Abstract

A nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) method to measure rates of migration of free radicals out of micelles has been developed by organic chemistry professor Nicholas J. Turro of Columbia University. Because Turro's is an NMR method, it yields detailed structural information on the particular species being investigated. Micelles are assemblies of detergent molecules in water solutions that entrap small, hydrophobic molecules in their interiors. Turro's accomplishment may lead to studies of dynamics of small molecules or reactive intermediates of low concentrations and/or short lifetimes in biological systems. Examples include determining migration rates of intermediates during photoaffinity labeling of biological macromolecules and measuring association and dissociation rates of drug molecules and proteins during transport. Industrial chemists also might use the technique. (For more details on the use of micelles as models of biological systems, see the special report on membrane mimetic chemistry beginning ...