Photophysical studies of aerosol-OT films loaded with biological macromolecules and made from reverse micelles

Abstract

Thin surfactant films loaded with trypsin were made by dipcoating a fused-silica slide in reverse micelles of bis(2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate sodium salt [AOT] in organic solvents. The fluorescence quenching analysis of charge transfer between Ru(bpy) 3 2+ and MV2+ in the absence of the enzyme has revealed that the original micellar structure is to a large extent transferred into the structure of the film. Nondried films contain a substantial amount of the organic solvent thus they consist of a hydrophilic and a hydrophobic subphase while the surfactant is placed at the interface. These films are transparent matrices and make excellent hosts for photophysical studies. When trypsin was introduced in the reverse micellar solution it was transferred into the film and solubilized in the hydrophilic subphase.