Confinement of Chiral Molecules in Reverse Micelles: FT-IR, polarimetric and VCD investigation on the state of dimethyl tartrate in sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate reverse micelles dispersed in carbon tetrachloride

The state of d and l-dimethyl tartrate confined within dry sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate(AOT) reverse micelles dispersed in CCl4 has been investigated by FT-IR spectroscopy, polarimetry, andvibrational circular dichroism (VCD). Measurements have been performed at 25 ◦C as a function of thesolubilizate-to-surfactant molar ratio (R) at a fixed AOT concentration (0.158 M). The analysis of experimentaldata is consistent with the hypothesis that both enantiomers of dimethyl tartrate are mainlyentrapped in the reverse micelles and located in proximity to the surfactant head-group region. Theformation of this interesting self-organized chiral nanostructure involves some changes of the typicalH-bonding of dimethyl tartrates in the pure solid state or as monomers dispersed in CCl4 attributable tothe establishment of specific solubilizate/surfactant head-group interactions and confinement effects.