Reverse Micelles (RMs) are thermodynamically stable, nanometer sized water droplets, composed of a pool of polar solvent (usually water), surrounded by a mono layer of surfactant, which is in turn solvated by a bulk, nonpolar solvent. This simple self- assembled structure is readily producible over wide range of sizes, generally characterized by the molar ratio of water to surfactant (w0): w0 = [H2O]/[Surfactant]. RMs can be used as a simple model system for biomolecule structure and dynamics studies in extracellular spaces and like biological membrane, RM is crowded and confined and mimic the biological systems. RMs have also been extensively used as a model system to investigate photophysical properties of various fluorescent and solvatochromic dyes. The properties of the confined water inside RMs are significantly different than that of core water where water is free and can form as many hidrogen bonds it can. Therefore, it can be expected that the physicochemical properties of the probemolecules can be differemt in reverse micelle compared to bulk water. In these experiments, we examined photophysical properties of fluorescent probemolecules in reverse micellar environments using various steady-state and time resolved spectroscopies. The results in reverse micellar environments of varioous size parameters were compared to that of in the bulk aqueous environment. We observed that for example, Cy5 dyes in the smallest of reverse micelles of size w0 =1 probably undergoes aggregation as compared to the bigger RMs and in aqueous environments. These experiments in confined reverse micellar environments have provided us requured protocols to investigate complex biomolecule dynamics for example protein folding and nucleic acid folding in connection with neurodegenarative diseases such as Alzheimer diseases (AD) and Huntington disease (HD) to name a few.

Reverse Micelles as simple model systems to investigate photophysical properties of probe molecules and biomolecule dynamics

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.