Phase Behavior and Aggregate Structure in Aqueous Mixtures of Sodium Cholate and Glycerol Monooleate

The phase behavior of the glycerol monooleate (GMO)-sodium cholate-water (or 0.9 wt% NaCl) system has been examined in the solvent-rich part, using small-angle X-ray scattering and conventional methods. Addition of cholate up to 7% of the total amphiphile swells the cubic phase of the binary GMO-water system so that it takes up almost 70% of water in the salt-free case and 55% in salt. With more bile salt the lamellar phase also appears highly swollen (up to 85% in water, 75% in brine). In the salt solution a small isotropic L3-phase region replaces the lamellar phase at a solvent content of about 79%. The lamellar phase can accept only about 0.2 cholate molecule per GMO, in both water and brine, and a phase with globular micelles (L1) follows and dominates the diagram. No threadlike micelles appear in this system. Investigation of the particle structures with cryo-transmission electron microscopy (TEM) in dilute systems (99% solvent) show globular micelles and coexisting vesicles and globular micelles. In the presence of salt, dilution of the L3 phase results in dispersed globular particles with an irregular internal morphology that suggests they are a dispersed L3 phase. These particles coexist with faceted particles having an inner structure giving a hexagonal pattern in projection, suggested to derive from the cubic phase. The cubic phase in the salt-free systems did not give dispersions stable enough for cryo-TEM examination. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.