Micellization in sodium deoxycholate solutions

NMR self-diffusion, tensiometry, and measurement of solubilization capacity are employed to comparatively study micellization in aqueous solutions of a facial amphiphilic compound, sodium deoxycholate (NaDC), and a conventional micelle-forming sodium dodecyl sulfate. Based on the two-state model, which is commonly used to analyze the data of NMR diffusometry, a method is proposed for determining variable sizes of NaDC micelles. It is shown that, in the concentration range from the critical micelle concentration to 0.1 M, the sizes of NaDC micelles monotonically increase. At comparable sizes of molecules of the examined surfactants, NaDC micelles are characterized by noticeably smaller aggregation numbers and solubilization capacity than sodium dodecyl sulfate due to the rigid structure of NaDC molecules, their facial amphiphilicity, and a low value of hydrophilic-lipophilic balance.