Aggregate Structure and Ion Binding in Amphiphilic Systems Studied by NMR Diffusion Method

The pulsed magnetic field gradient NMR method has been used to study the diffusion of all species in the isotropic phase of the ternary system lithium octanoate-butanol-water. It was found that an increase in the butanol concentration eventually leads to a disruption of the normal micelles and reversed micelles were not observed at any butanol content. The Li+ diffusion coefficients in the lamellar phase of the lithium octanoate-decanol-water system were shown to be independent of the composition of the sample. This was interpreted to be due to a constant fraction of bound ions in accordance with the ion condensation model previously used to describe the ion binding in lyotropic liquid crystals.