Infrared investigation of water encapsulated in non ionic reverse micelles

Water confined in non-ionic fluorocarbon reverse micelles was investigated through infrared spectroscopy. The characteristic OH stretching band is see n to exhibit significant changes upon growing water core Size. An analysis in terms of three gaussians, each of which being ascribed to different wate r "type" molecules is performed. From a comparison with ionic systems, it i s found that the presence of counterions is not a major factor in the pertu rbation of water connectivity. thus suggesting that the size of confinement prevails.