Recent developments in fluorescence probing of micellar solutions and microemulsions

Abstract

This paper reviews recent theoretical and experimental developments of fluorescence probing, more particularly time-resolved fluorescence quenching (TRFQ) and fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) in studies of surfactant-containing systems, with special emphasis on micellar solutions and water-in-oil microemulsions. The TRFQ theory has been extended to systems containing polydisperse surfactant aggregates, to systems of rod-like aggregates and to systems where probe and quencher can rapidly migrate from one aggregate to another on the fluorescence timescale through various processes. The newly available theories give a better insight into the meaning of the aggregation numbers and migration rate constants obtained from TRFQ. Selected studies of micellar solutions and water-in-oil microemulsions by TRFQ and FRAP are reviewed. In the last part of the paper selected studies using TRFQ and other fluorescence probing methods and other types of surfactant systems are reviewed.