Micro-Raman investigations of myelins in aerosol-OT/water system

Surfactant outgrowth during dissolution as myelin figures, which happens on contact with water, is of prime importance in emulsification and detergency. Micro-Raman investigation of different lyotropic phases formed during dissolution of aerosol-OT (bis 2-ethylhexyl sulfosuccinate) in water during myelin formation reveals the flexible arrangement of the surfactant bilayers in myelin. The conformation around CC-CS bond and the hydrocarbon chains of aerosol-OT in the different liquid crystalline phases were identified from the fingerprints of CC-CS stretching, C-C stretching, C-H bending, and stretching frequencies. Existence of mixture of trans and gauche conformations around CC-CS bond and that of the hydrocarbon chains in myelin supports the fluid nature of bilayers by which it is made. Similar conformations of hydrocarbon chains in lamellar phase and in myelin support the concept of myelins being rolled up lamella. The observations are in line with the disorderness of the hydrocarbon chains in the bilayers of phospholipids that has been reported earlier. From the C-C stretching frequencies at the root of myelins, the kinked structure of the hydrocarbon chain is identified, and loose packing of molecules which would facilitate water transport across membranes is evident.