Energy transfer from C-phycocyanin to phthalocyanine metal complex in reverse micelles

A new mimic system of photosynthetic apparatus was constructed from C-phycocyanin and phthalocyanine zinc. C-PC was solubilized in the reverse micelles of non ionic surfactant Tween-80, cosurfactant pentanol, and solvent cyclohexane, in which the overall concentration of surfactant was 20% (w/v) and the mass ratio of Tween-80 to pentanol was 4:1. When the molar ratio of water to Tween-80 (R_w)≥9.0, the characteristic properties of C-PC were maintained. When it was excited, the energy transfer from C-PC to phthalocyanine zinc took place. The energy transfer efficiency was only related with the concentration of phthalocyanine, but not that of C-PC. Furthermore, the energy transfer was roughly in keeping with Perrin formulation, which indicated that the energy transfer took place approximately through dipole-dipole interaction in rigid system. The radii of the quenching sphere were calculated from the experimental results. For example, when the concentration of phthalocyanine zinc was 2.10 × 10~(-4) mol/     

Photoinduced intramolecular electron transfer and charge separation in zinc phthalocyanine-viologen linked system

Photoinduced electron transfer and charge separation processes in zinc phthalocya-nine-viologen linked system have been studied and the distance effect of donor/acceptor on electron transfer reaction is discussed. It is indicated that the fluorescence from the zinc phthalocyanine moiety is appreciably quenched and the life-time of singlet excited state is reduced by the pendant viologen. Time-resolved transient absorption spectra measurements show that intramolecular quenching of the triplet state of zinc phthalocyanine by the attached viologen results in charge separation giving reduced viologen radical alive for a rather long period with hundred microsecond duration. The effect of the carbon chain length on the electron transfer rate constant and charge separation efficiency suggests that upon excitation, the zinc phthalocyanine and viologen groups tend to take closer conformation with the increase of the carbon chain examined. The rate constant for the intramolecular electron transfer ket with n = 3     

Fluorescence quenching of eosin upon adsorption by colloidal silver mediated in aqueous solution and reverse micelles

The optical effects of the adsorption of eosin on the colloidal silver particle have been investigated in aqueous solutions. It was found that upon adsorption the fluorescence of eosin was effectively quenched. This was explained as the photoinduced interfacial electron transfer from the excited singlet state of eosin to the silver particle. Decreasing pH of the solution favors the adsorption of eosin and so enhances the fluorescence quenching. For comparison, the fluorescence quenching in reverse micelles was also investigated. The quenching behavior was much different from that mediated in aqueous solution. This was attributed to the unique microenvironment of reverse micelles.     

Time-dependent Density Functional Theory Study on the Electronically Excited States of N-Methylformamide in Aqueous Solution

Excited-state hydrogen-bonding dynamics of N-methylformamide (NMF) in water has been investigated by time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) method. The ground-state geometry optimizations were calculated by density functional theory (DFT) method, while the electronic transition energies and corresponding oscillation strengths of the low-lying electronically excited states of isolated NMF, water monomers and the hydrogen-bonded NMF-H 2 O were calculated by TDDFT method. According to Zhao's rule on the excited-state hydrogen bonding dynamics, our results demonstrate that the intermolecular hydrogen bond C=O···O-H is strengthened and weakened in different electronically excited states. The hydrogen bond strengthening and weakening in the electronically excited state plays an important role in the photophysics of NMF in solutions.     

Synthesis and Surface Activity of Novel Triazole—based Cationic Gemini Surfactants

Gemini surfactants, which contain two hydrophilic groups and two hydrophobic groups in the molecule, are considered as a new generation of surfactants. These surfactants are about 3 orders of magnitude more efficient at reducing surface tension and more than 2 orders of magnitude more efficient at forming micelles than conventional surfactants1. During recent years, many gemini surfactants have been synthesized, and a considerable number of investigations have been reported on their unusua…     

Effect of surface charge of polymeric micelles on in vitro cellular uptake

This work focuses on the interaction between polymeric micelles with different charged surfaces and cancer cells in order to study the influence of surface charge on the in vitro cellular uptake efficiency. The amphiphilic diblock copolymers poly(ε-caprolactone)-b-poly(ethylene oxide) (PCL-b-PEO) with different functional groups at the end of hydrophilic block were synthesized. The functional groups endue the micelles with different charges on the surfaces. The cellular uptake of micelles to T-24 cells (human bladder tumor cells), HepG2 cells (human liver hepatocellular carcinoma cell line) and Hela cells (human epithelial cervical cancer cells) was studied by means of flow cytometer and confocal laser scanning microscopy. The results indicate that the surface charges showed great influence on zeta potential of micelles at different pH values. The in vitro cellular uptake efficiency of micelles with different charged surfaces demonstrated different cellular uptake patterns to three kinds of cancer cells.     

Fluorescence Quenching Study of Zinc Bisporphyrins by Fulleropyrrolidines and Their N-Oxides

Novel phenylene-bridged zinc bisporphyrins （1-4）, fulleropyrrolidines （C60-m, C60-h） and their N-oxides （C60-mo, C60-ho） were synthesized. The fluorescence quenching processes of bisporphyrins in toluene solution by fulleropyrrolidines and their N-oxides were investigated by steady-state fluorescence spectra. The fluorescence quenching constants proved that the fluorescence quenching ability was decreased as reduction of the pyrrolidine functional groups of fullerene surface： C60-h〉C60-m〉C60, and the fluorescence quenching ability was increased about 1.3-7.4 times by utilizing fulleropyrrolidine N-oxides （C60-mo, C60-ho） compared to fulleropyrrolidine compounds （C60-m, C60-h）. The results revealed photoinduced electron transfer （PET） efficiency between bispor-phyrin and fullerene derivatives could be tunable by change of functional groups on fullerene surface.     

Synthesis and spectroscopic properties of a novel zinc phthalocyanine with four 17-membered crown ether voids

A novel zinc phthalocyanine containing four 17-crown-5 ether voids(17C5ZnPc) has been synthesized and characterized. UV-visible absorption and fluorescence emission spectra and as-sociated photophysical parameters have been determined. In contrast to most of the crown ether substituted phthalocyanines, no cofacial dimer formation is observed in the presence of alkali metal salts. In addition to the fluorescence at 710 nm from S1, a strong upper excited state (Soret 52) emission around 424 nm has been detected for the first time in the phthalocyanine series. Fluorescence decay of S1 and S2 emission can be analyzed by mono- and biexponential fits respectively. X-ray structure analysis showed that the crown ether unit is conformationally deformed and oblate that may account for the unusual spectroscopic properties.     

Heteroaggregation between porphyrin and phthalocyanine bearing oppositely charged substituents

Heteroaggregates composed of cationic porphyrin, meso-tetra(p-trimethylamino)-porphyrin iodide, its zinc complex and anionic phthalocyanine sodium hydroxygallium 4,4',4",4"'-tetrasulfonated phthalocyanine have been investigated by absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy. It has been found that both free base cationic porphyrin and its zinc complex can form very stable heterodimers with anionic phthalocyanine in water, methanol and dhnethylfonnamide. The stability of the aggregate depends on the polarity as well as the ligation ability of the solvent. No evidence of higher aggregates was detected. Besides axial coordination, steric hindrance which influence the relative orientation of the macrocycles are considered.     

Effects of additives on the aggregation of surfactants: binding domination

The effects of electrolytes, alcohols, and urea on the aggregation of SDS, CTAB, and TritonX-100 at 25℃ have been investigated by fluorescence probing of pyrene. Both electrolytes and alcoholsreduce the critical micelle concentration (CMC) of the ionic surfactants, while the effect of the former ismore pronounced. It is shown that the effects of electrolytes mainly depend on the concentrationsand especially the valence of the opposite charge ions, and only slightly depend on the same charge ionsin respect of ion aggregate of micelle. The logarithm of CMC is not linearly correlated with theconcentrations of the counter ion or the electrolytes. The results are rationalized in terms of Hartley'smodel. Propanol increases the CMC of TX-100, while electrolytes and urea do not. In all the threekinds of surfactant micelles the excitation spectrum of pyrene slightly red-shifts (ca. 4 nm) from thatin water, but is not affected by the additives. The micropolarity of the environment in which pyrenemolecule resides in SDS micelle decreases with the increase of the concentrations of electrolytes. Thisis not the case when alcohols and urea were added to SDS or to TX-100. It is suggested that theaddition of electrolytes would result in more orderly orientation of SDS molecules. It is the bindingstrength of the counter ions that dominates the effects of additives on the aggregation of surfactants.     

Functional Detergents Containing an Imidazole Ring and Typical Fragments of α-Nucleophiles Underlying Micellar Systems for Cleavage of Esters of Prosphorus Acids

1-Cetyl-3-(2-oximinopropyl)imidazolium, 1-cetyl-3-(2-oxaminoethyl-2-one)imidazolium, and 1-cetyl-3-(2-amino-2-oximinoethyl)imidazolium halides were synthesized.These compounds form in water solutions functional zwitter-ionic micelles as surfactants. The cleavage kinetics of 4-nitrophenyl diethyl phosphate, 4-nitrophenyl ethyl ethylphosphonate, and 4-nitrophenyl tosylate in micelles of the functional detergents and combined micelles of the functional detergents with cetyltrimethylammonium chloride are adequately described in a framework of a simple pseudophase distribution model, and the micellar systems of the detergents are typical -nucleophilic reagents. An equation was suggested for quantitative estimation of the micellar effect of the surfactants that took into account the change in the nucleophilic and basic characteristics of the -nucleophilic center of the detergent and also the influence of the reagents concentrating on transition of the reaction from the water into micelle phase. The maximum acceleration of the S N 2-reaction in the micelles of the functional zwitter-ionic detergents for the cleavage of 4-nitrophenyl diethyl phosphate and 4-nitrophenyl tosylate reached 3500 and 75 000 (oximate surfactant), 3300 and 66 000 (amidoximate surfactant ), and 4800 and 12200 (hydroxamate surfactant) times respectively. New functional detergents underlie unique supernucleophilic micellar system affording extremely high cleavage rates of organophosphorus substrates-ecotoxicants.     

Dynamics and prototropic reactivity of electronically excited states in simple surfactant aggregates

Excitation of a molecule from the ground state to an electronically excited state can cause changes in its geometry, dipole moment, acidity or basicity, redox potentials and solvation. Bimolecular quenching of the excited state of the probe by other molecules present in the medium can be used to determine the mobilities of molecules and estimate microviscosities and encounter probabilities in the medium. Differences in excited state acidity or basicity relative to the ground state can be employed to investigate the dynamics of ultrafast proton transfer reactions. Three areas of current interest where fluorescent probes have served to elucidate important dynamic processes of molecules in simple self-aggregating surfactant systems such as aqueous micelles and reverse micelles are considered: (a) bimolecular quenching of excited states; (b) the dynamics of solvation of excited states and (c) ultrafast intermolecular excited state proton transfer (ESPT) reactions.     

Interaction and Stability of Mixed Micelle and Monolayer of Nonionic and Cationic Surfactant Mixtures

Interaction and stability of binary mixtures of cationic surfactants hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (HTAB) or hexadecylpyridinium bromide (HPyBr) with nonionic surfactant decanoyl-N-methyl-glucamide (Mega-10) have been studied at different mole fraction of cationic surfactants by using interfacial tension measurements and fluorescence probe techniques. From interfacial tension measurements, the critical micellar concentration and various interfacial thermodynamic parameters have been evaluated. The experimental cmc's were analyzed with the pseudophase separation model, the regular solution theory, and the Maeda's approach. These approaches allowed us to determine the interaction parameter and composition in the mixed state. By using the static quenching method, the mean micellar aggregation numbers of pure and mixed micelles of HTAB + Mega-10 were obtained. It has been observed that the aggregation number of mixed micelles deviates negatively from the ideal behavior. The micropolarity of the micelle was monitored with pyrene fluorescence intensity ratio and found to be increase with the increase of ionic content. The polarization of fluorescence probe Rhodamine B was monitored at different mole fraction of cationic surfactants.     

Effect of self‐assemblies of various surfactants in their single and mixed states on the BZ oscillatory reaction

Micelles of different surfactants are well known to affect chemical equilibria and reactivities by selectively sequestering the reagent substrates through electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions. In this article, the effects of micelles of various surfactants on different parameters of the Ce(IV)‐catalyzed Belousov–Zhabotinsky (BZ) oscillatory reaction at 35°C in nonstirred closed conditions are studied by employing spectrophotometry and tensiometry. Surfactants used in this study are the cationics hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and pentamethylene‐1,5‐bis(N‐hexadecyl‐N,N‐dimethylammonium)bromide gemini (Gemini), anionic sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS), and nonionic Brij58, whereas the binary surfactant systems used are cationic–nonionic CTAB+Brij58 and anionic–nonionic SDBS+Brij58. The results revealed that the induction period shows a definite variation with increasing concentration of different surfactants above their critical micelle concentration (cmc). The amplitudes of oscillation and absorbance maxima and minima are enhanced in the presence of micelles of CTAB and Gemini surfactants, whereas micelles of SDBS and Brij58 have almost no effect on the nature of the oscillations. However, mixed micelles of CTAB+Brij58 and SDBS+Brij58 binary mixtures show a quite different effect on the overall behavior of the oscillations. The enhanced effect of CTAB and Gemini surfactants on the overall nature of oscillations has been attributed to the positive charge on the surface of their micelles and to some extent on the presence of nitrogen in their head group. The effect of mixed binary micelles may be attributed to their synergistic nature. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 42: 659–668, 2010     

Phase behavior in mixtures of cationic and anionic surfactants in aqueous solutions

Phase behavior of cationic/anionic surfactant mixtures of the same chain length (n=10, 12 or 14) strongly depends on the molar ratio and actual concentration of the surfactants. Precipitation of catanionic surfactant and mixed micelles formation are observed over the concentration range investigated. Coacervate and liquid crystals are found to coexist in the transition region from crystalline catanionic surfactant to mixed micelles.The addition of oppositely charged surfactant diminishes the surface charge density at the mixed micelle/solution interface and enhances the apparent degree of counterion dissociation from mixed micelles. Cationic surfactants have a greater tendency to be incorporated in mixed micelles than anionic ones.     

Fixation of micelle structure by monomer polymerization: Hydrodynamic properties of polymerized micelles

Polymerized and nonpolymerized micelles of N-acryloyl-11-aminoundecanoic acid and its sodium salt in water and dimethylformamide are studied by viscometry, isothermal diffusion, and dynamic light scattering. It is revealed that the hydrodynamic sizes of polymerized micelles (PMs) obtained via polymerization of the surfactants in aqueous solutions at low concentrations of the latter are significantly larger than those of the starting surfactant micelles. In dimethylformamide, as the surfactant concentration at which the synthesis is carried out is increased, the hydrodynamic size of PMs, which is calculated in terms of the cylindrical particle model, rises from 25 to 220 nm. The formation of additional internal crosslinks reduces the equilibrium rigidity of the PM chains by a factor of 1.5–2.     

A potentiometric titration study on the dissociation of bile acids related to the mode of interaction between different head groups of nonionic surfactants with free bile salts upon mixed micelle formation in water

By constructing an elaborate set of potentiometric titration together with data analysis system, apparent acid dissociation indices (pK _a ^app ) for two bile acids were determined in the mixed surfactant system of bile salts (Sodium Deoxycholate, NaDC, and Sodium Chenodeoxycholate, NaCDC) with nonionic surfactants (Hexaethyleneglycol monon-dodecylether, C₁₂E₆, Decanoyl-N-methylglucamide, MEGA-10) in aqueous solution at ionic strength 1.5 as a function of mole fraction in the surfactant mixture. It was found that with increasing the bile salt concentration, pK _a ^app as well as pH showed an abrupt rise at a certain concentration of the bile salt being regardable as a critical micellization concentration (CMC) and reached a constant value at the range sufficiently higher than CMC for each pure bile salt system, meaning that the dissociation degree of carboxyl group in micelle is smaller than that in bulk. In the mixed systems of free bile salts with nonionic surfactants, the dissociation state of carboxyl groups in mixed micelles depends on the species of hydrophilic group of nonionic surfactants as well as on mole fraction in the surfactant mixture.     

Kinetics of hydrolysis of procaine in aqueous and micellar media

The kinetics of alkaline hydrolysis of procaine under the pseudo–first‐order condition ([OH^?] ? [procaine]) has been carried out. N,N‐Diethylaminoethanol and p‐aminobenzoate anion were obtained as the hydrolysis product. The rate of hydrolysis was found to be linearly dependent upon [NaOH]. The addition of cationic cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DDTAB) and tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide, and anionic sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) micelles inhibited the rate of hydrolysis. The maximum inhibitive effect on the reaction rate was observed for SDS micelles, whereas among the cationic surfactants, CTAB inhibited most. The variation in the rate of hydrolysis of procaine in the micellar media is attributed to the orientation of a reactive molecule to the surfactant and the binding constant of procaine with micelles. The rate of hydrolysis of procaine is negligible in DDTAB micelles. The observed results in the presence of cationic micelles were treated on the basis of the pseudophase ion exchange model. The results obtained in the presence of anionic micelles were treated by the pseudophase model, and the various kinetic parameters were determined. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 45: 1–9, 2013     

Quadrupolar Cyclopenta[hi]aceanthrylene‐Based Electron Donor‐Acceptor‐Donor Conjugates: Charge Transfer versus Charge Separation

Cyclopenta[hi]aceanthrylenes (CPAs) have been functionalized at two of the peripheral positions with electronically inert trimethylsilylethynyl ( 1 ), as well as with electron‐donating 4‐ethynyl‐N,N‐dimethylaniline ( 2 ), ethynyl Zn^IIphthalocyanine ( 3 ), and ethynyl Zn^IIporphyrin ( 4 ) units. Consistent with X‐ray crystal structures of 2 and 4 , analyses of absorption and fluorescence of 2 – 4 point to strong electronic communication between the CPA and the peripheral units, affording quadrupolar electron donor‐acceptor‐donor charge‐transfer conjugates. By virtue of their quadrupolar/dipolar charge‐transfer characters in the excited state, 2 – 4 exhibit fluoro‐solvatochromism. Transient absorption spectroscopy confirmed delocalized quadrupolar ground states and formation of weakly solvent stabilized quadrupolar singlet excited states. The latter transform into strongly stabilized dipolar excited states before deactivating to the ground state in 2 and give rise to a fully charge separated state in 3 and 4 .