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Methyltri-n-octylammonium chloride (Aliquat 336) is sparingly soluble in water but is readily soluble with a 2-fold excess of micellized cetylpyridinium chloride (CPyCl), and the mixtures show breaks in plots of surface tension or electrolytic conductance against concentration indicative of a critical micelle concentration slightly lower than that of CPyCl. Micellization markedly increases 35Cl and 14N NMR line widths of CPyCl, but addition of NaCl reduces the 35Cl line width and addition of Aliquat increases it. Mixing Aliquat and CPyCl has little effect on their 14N line widths. Ion pairing in alcohol mixtures also increases 35Cl line widths. In water these mixed assemblies behave similarly to micelles of CPyCl as regards effects on rates and equilibria of interconversion of tri- and tetraperoxomolybdate ions, and oxidation of thioanisole by the latter, although it is slightly slower than in micelles of CPyCl. Despite differences in the hydrophobic regions, and relationships between amphiphilic structures and morphologies of association colloids, assemblies of CPyCl and Aliquat behave very much like CPyCl micelles in their physical properties and effects upon reactivity. Geometrical optimization indicates that Aliquat can adopt conformations that allow intercalation with CPyCl micelles.

Terminal hydroxyl groups of micellized dodecyl (10) and (23) polyoxyethylene glycol (C12E10 and C12E23, respectively) are deprotonated by OH-, and the alkoxide ions react with 2,4-dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB) giving ethers, but do not react with p-nitrophenyl dimethyl and diethyl phosphate (pNPDMP and pNPDEP, respectively), which react wholly with OH-. These substrates have similar hydrophobicities and should locate similarly in the micellar interfacial regions. These differences in reactivities are due to differences in relative nucleophilicities of OH- and alkoxide ions in aromatic nucleophilic substitution and dephosphorylation in micelles. Reactivities of DNCB and the related ethers indicate that local concentrations of OH- are similar in the aqueous and micellar interfacial regions but those of the alkoxide ions are higher in C12E10 than in C12E23 micelles due to differences in the molar volumes of the interfacial regions. With time the initially formed ethers react at similar rates with OH- generating 2,4-dinitrophenoxide ion.

Reactions of p-nitrophenyl diphenyl phosphinate (p-NPDP) with OH- and F- are inhibited by micelles of dodecyl polyoxyethylene ethers C12E10 and C12E23. Rate constants decrease sharply in very dilute surfactant and become approximately constant as p-NPDP becomes fully micellar bound, with inhibition by approximately an order of magnitude. The first-formed fluoridate is detected by NMR spectroscopy in reaction with F- in DMSO-d6:D2O 85:15 v/v, but not in other conditions. Kinetic salt effects on the micellar reactions are ion specific. Bulky anions, ClO-4 and naphthalene-2-sulfonate ion (ONs-), inhibit reactions much more than small ions, and (C7H15)4N+ accelerates reaction of F-. Micellar incorporation of ONs- in the micelles is demonstrated by changes in 1H-NMR spectra of the surfactants. Comparison of rate constants of reaction of F- in PEG (MW 10(4)) and in nonionic micelles shows that the micellar inhibition is due largely to lower ionic concentrations in the micelles than in water. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.