Electron transfer redox reactions in the micellar and liquid crystalline media

Abstract

The lyotropic liquid crystalline phases are formed by the aggregation of surfactant based micelles in the aqueous or other solvent media. They are of fundamental interest as many of the lyotropic liquid crystalline phases resemble the biological environment. An excellent example comes from the many surfactants that can form the lamellar phase in the aqueous medium such as bilayers, which are very much akin to lamellar phases formed by the lipids in the living systems. Due to this special property of the lyotropic liquid crystalline phases, they may be explored to study many of the complex processes occurring in the biological media. Among them, electron transfer reactions play a major role as they influence many of the biological processes including the nerve communications. There are several reports of the redox reactions in the micellar as well as liquid crystalline phases. In the liquid crystalline phase, most of the studies have been reported in the cubic or lamellar phase. The present review describes some of the redox reactions studied in the micellar as well as in the lyotropic liquid crystalline phases. We have focused especially on the shift of the redox potentials and the diffusion of the redox probes in the micelles and liquid crystalline phases.