Measurement of Solubilization Location in Micelles Using Anchored Aggregation‐Induced Emission Donors

Abstract

Solubilization locations play a critical role in developing advanced surfactants and improving solubilization power in micelle‐based applications. However, the current polarity‐based techniques for measuring solubilization locations could come to conflicting conclusions. The key challenge is the unpredictable polarities in the micellar microenvironment. Now, an approach that is independent of micellar polarities is used to measure solubilization locations by covalently linking tetraphenylethylene (TPE) to the alkyl chain end of cationic surfactants. The solubilization locations of solubilized acceptors in the TPE‐cored spherical micelles were accurately measured by calculating the Förster resonance energy transfer distance between anchored TPE donors and solubilized acceptors. Solubilization locations of solubilized substances in the micellar interior and at the micellar surface depend on their size and hydrophobicity, respectively.

Understanding Nonlinear Composition Dependency of Enantioselectivity in Chiral Separation Using Mixed Micelle

“…Hydrophilic solutes are located at the micellar surface, while relatively hydrophobic solutes are located at the micellar interior. 63 The compounds 1-3 have a hydrophobic benzene group and a positively charged amine group when dissolved in phosphate buffer (pH = 7.5). The latter was confirmed by the faster elution of the solute relative to the EOF marker in the phosphate buffer solution.…”

Dynamic Photochromic Polymer Nanoparticles Based on Matrix-Dependent Förster Resonance Energy Transfer and Aggregation-Induced Emission Properties

“…As a consequence of overlapping in the fluorescence spectra, the donor and the acceptor play an essential role in determining the property of FRET systems. Aggregation-induced emission (AIE) luminogens (AIEgens), which exhibit enhanced photoluminescence (PL) in the aggregated state, have been successfully utilized as a donor to establish FRET systems for detection. − The fluorescence of AIEgens, including the emission wavelength and intensity, can be easily tuned by changing their aggregation degree. − Spiropyran (SP), a well-known acceptor in FRET systems, featuring reversible optical switching between the colorless ring-closed SP form and the colored ring-opened merocyanine (MC) form, exhibits rapid photo responsiveness under irradiation. − Intriguingly, in our previous works, the profound effect of a polymer matrix on fluorescence behavior of AIEgens in PNPs was revealed, and the influence of polymer chain parameters on the kinetics of photochromism of SP to MC units in PNPs has also been verified in previously reported work. , Inspired by these, a controllable FRET system was established by tetraphenyletheyl (TPE, one of the most popular AIEgens) and SP units as the donor and the acceptor, respectively. We reasoned that gradient changes of the polymer matrix properties might be an effective and facile solution to synergistically regulate the FRET process and AIE behaviors, obtaining dynamic color-tunable fluorescent PNPs along with the irradiation time.…”