Role of dimensionality and spatial extent in influencing intramicellar kinetic processes

A combined experimental and theoretical study was undertaken to explore the role of dimensionality and spatial extent in influencing intramicellar kinetic reactions. Three qualitatively different types of energy-transfer reactions were studied: (1) the diffusion of a confined photoexcited species to a reactive surface; (2) the energy transfer between two completely compartmentalized reactants; and (3) the chemical reaction between species restricted in their diffusional motion to the surface of the micelle. The theoretical framework within which the dynamics of these three processes were studied was the continuum theory of reaction-diffusion kinetics. It was found that the theory developed correctly predicts the emergence of pseudo-first-order behavior, with attendent (effective) rate constants in qualitative (and near quantitative) accord with the experimental results