THE INTERACTION OF MICELLES WITH ADDED SPECIES AND ITS SIMILARITY TO THE DENATURANT BINDING MODEL OF PROTEINS

The effect of additives on micellar aggregation is treated using the s ame framework developed for macromolecular binding. This procedure, hi nging on the pseudo-phase transition model, allows us to evaluate the binding constant of any added substance to a micellar aggregate as wel l as the number of particles bound per amphiphilic unit. The analysis of published literature data confirms that the model provides a genera l description of micellar aggregation in the presence of added ingredi ents, regardless of their ionic or non-ionic nature. Original data fro m our laboratory are well described by the suggested macromolecular bi nding approach. The dependence of experimental trends on micellization modifiers is also briefly discussed. (C) 1998 Academic Press