When water is not water?. Exploring water confined in reverse micelles using a highly charged inorganic molecular probe.

BARUAH B.; RODEN J.; SEDGWICK M.; CORREA N.M.; CRANS D.C.; LEVINGER N.E.

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY

American Chemical Society

Lugar: Washington DC, USA; Año: 2006 vol. 128 p. 12758 - 12765

0002-7863

Abstract:The interior water pool of Aerosol OT (AOT) reverse micelles tends toward bulk water properties as the micelle size increases.  Thus, deviations from bulk water behavior in large reverse micelles is less expected than in small reverse micelles.  Probing the interior water pool of AOT reverse micelles with a highly charged decavanadate (V10) oligomer using 51V NMR spectroscopy shows distinct changes in solute environment.  For example, when an acidic stock solution of protonated V10 is placed in a reverse micelle, the 51V chemical shifts show that the V10 is deprotonated consistent with a decreased proton concentration in the intramicellar water pool.  Results indicate that a proton gradient exists inside the reverse micelles leaving the interior neutral while the interfacial region is acidic.