CLUSTERING OF AEROSOL OT REVERSED MICELLES AS STUDIED BY NONRADIATIVEENERGY-TRANSFER OF SOLUBILIZED PROBES

Water-soluble anionic fluorescent molecules tetrasodium 1,3,6,8-pyrene tetrasulfonate (PyTS) and trisodium 8-hydroxy-1,3,6-pyrenetrisulfonate (pyranine) were solubilized in separate reversed micellar cores in AO T/n-heptane system. The reversed micelle system showed an extent of no nradiative energy transfer from PyTS to pyranine higher than for the a queous solution system in comparison at a critical probe concentration , [P](c). The values of [P](c), where each micelle is occupied by stat istically one probe molecule, were determined as a probe concentration where the solubilized disodium 2,6-naphthalenedisulfonate (NpDS) begi ns to show the intramicellar excimer fluorescence. The results reveal that at surfactant concentrations higher than 0.1 M the AOT reversed m icelles are not randomly dispersed in isolated state in n-heptane but form clusters through intermicellar flocculation.