The diffusion coefficients of small nitroxide probes as guests in aqueous solutions of the triblock copolymer
poly(ethylene oxide)-b-poly(propylene oxide)-b-poly(ethylene oxide) EO13PO30EO13 (Pluronic L64) were
measured at 300 K by one-dimensional electron spin resonance imaging (1D ESRI). The method is based
on encoding the spatial distribution of the probes as a function of time in ESR spectra recorded in the
presence of magnetic field gradients and simulation of these spectra in order to extract the diffusion
coefficient, D. The rate of transport of each probe as a function of polymer content in the various phases
(micellar, hexagonal, lamellar, and reverse micellar) of aqueous L64 depends on the probe location in the
self-assembled system. The probe site was deduced from the analysis of the ESR spectra; the isotropic
hyperfine splitting, a
N, from the 14N nucleus of the >NO fragment in the probes was the polarity sensitive
parameter. D values for the cationic probe 4-(N,N,N-trimethyl)ammonium-2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-piperidine-1-oxyl iodide that is known to reside in the water domains follow the expression D = D
0 exp(−aw
2), where
D
0 is the diffusion coefficient in the neat solvent and w
2 is the weight fraction of the polymer. For the
hydrophobic probe 5DSE, the methyl ester of doxylstearic acid where 5 indicates the carbon atom to which
the doxyl group is attached, D is significantly lower and almost constant for w
2 in the range 0.20−0.80.
For the probe perdeuterio-2,2‘,6,6‘-tetramethyl-piperidone-N-oxide that is located at the interface between
water and the EO domains, D decreases with increase in the polymer content, but the decrease is more
prominent for w
2 in the range 0.10−0.30; at w
2 = 0.90, D is similar to that of the polymer chains. The
method of 1D ESRI enables the measurement of D values for guests present in small concentrations,
typically ≤2 × 10-3 mol/L. This method and the results obtained in this study are relevant for assessing
both the rate of transport of drugs in drug delivery systems and the partitioning of various guests in
complex systems, for instance in biological membranes.