Micellar Catalysis and Concept in Apolar Media

The active interest aroused by catalytically affected reactions in apolar surfactant solutions requires one to look for a relation to micelle formation and solubilization in an effort to attain a more unified description of phenomena peculiar to apolar surfactant systems. Since these catalytic phenomena are usually summarized by the notion »micellar catalysis« the present paper wants to contribute towards a sound abstraction of this concept. This was done by analyzing a particular catalyzed reaction (the catalyzed hydrolysis of p-nitrophenylacetate in the presence of dodecylammoniumpropionate in cyclohexane) in the frequently investigated apolar solutions of cationic surfactants. A quantitative description of the overall reaction was obtained which was found in satisfactory agreement with experimental details. It was concluded that micellar and multiple association patterns are reflected also in the relationships obtained by examining catalytically influenced reactions in these systems