Collaborative Research: Impact of Alcohol and Alkanoic Acids on Reverse Micelle Formation and Properties: Integration of Research and Education from the Novice to Expert

About This Grant

With support from the Chemical Structure and Dynamics (CSD) program in the Division of Chemistry, Professor Nancy Levinger at Colorado State University and Professor Bridget Gourley at DePauw University will investigate self-assembled structures of a few hundred to a few hundred thousand molecules. These nanoscopic structures, which are soap bubbles turned inside out, trap water inside and serve as models to explore physical and chemical properties of solvents in confined structures. Confined solvents are important in biology, manufacturing, and other fields, but they do not behave like their macroscopic liquid counterparts. Confinement can alter the motion of the molecules in the small solvent pool, and added solute molecules can disrupt its structure. Professors Levinger and Gourley and their students, will seed these structures with a series of molecular additives, and use a combination of optical and magnetic spectroscopies to see where the additives reside and watch them move in nanoscale confinement. Their discoveries could provide fundamental insight into how confined solvents behave, which could contribute to solutions in technologies ranging from drug discovery to the extraction of critical minerals and toxins from the environment. The project will provide research opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students in a collaborative, multi-institution environment, thereby contributing to the development of a scientific workforce. The project will use one- and two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopies, time-resolved fluorescence methods, and dynamic light scattering to explore the effects of molecular additives on the structure and dynamics water confined in reverse micelles that are seeded with alkanols and alkanoic acids. Measurements performed on a series of straight chain alcohols and carboxylic acids will distinguish the role of alkyl chain length versus its head group function in determining the additive location in the reverse micelle, thus providing insight to the molecule’s chemical potential in each location. These studies will: i) determine quaternary phase diagrams for the reverse micelle systems; ii) correlate additive structures and other properties with their location in the reverse micelles; and iii) determine molecular and bulk additive properties most useful in predicting behavior of additive-infused reverse micelle systems. Measurements will also be performed using perfluoroalkanoic acids, and the results will be compared with their alkanoic acids analogs. The group will study team mentoring relationships, with the goal of identifying the aspects of the research environment that students find most impactful to their development. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.