Thermoreversible formation and negative thermal expansion of supramacromolecular assemblies of unimolecular micelles in solution

Micelle formation is an intricate process that hinges on the properties of amphiphilic or amphipathic molecules and the conditions of the system in which they are found. Amphiphilic molecules, which have both hydrophilic (water-attracting) and hydrophobic (water-repelling) parts, play a critical role in this process.In aqueous environments, these molecules arrange themselves such that their hydrophilic heads are turned towards the water phase, while their hydrophobic tails are oriented away...

The formation of a solution is an example of a spontaneous process, which is a process that occurs under specified conditions without energy from some external source.
When the strengths of the intermolecular forces of attraction between solute and solvent species in a solution are no different than those present in the separated components, the solution is formed with no accompanying energy change. Formation of the solution requires the solute–solute and solvent–solvent electrostatic forces to...

Heating a crystalline solid increases the average energy of its atoms, molecules, or ions, and the solid gets hotter. At some point, the added energy becomes large enough to partially overcome the forces holding the molecules or ions of the solid in their fixed positions, and the solid begins the process of transitioning to the liquid state or melting. At this point, the temperature of the solid stops rising, despite the continual input of heat, and it remains constant until all of the solid is...

The formation of a solution is an example of a spontaneous process, a process that occurs under specified conditions without energy from some external source.
When the strengths of the intermolecular forces of attraction between solute and solvent species in a solution are no different than those present in the separated components, the solution is formed with no accompanying energy change. Such a solution is called an ideal solution. A mixture of ideal gases (or gases such as helium and argon,...

There are two criteria that favor, but do not guarantee, the spontaneous formation of a solution:

Sigmatropic rearrangements are a class of pericyclic reactions in which a σ bond migrates from one part of a π system to another. These are intramolecular rearrangements where the total number of σ and π bonds remain unchanged.
Sigmatropic shifts are classified based on an order term [i, j ], where i and j indicate the number of atoms across which each end of the σ bond migrates. Below are examples of a [3,3] sigmatropic shift in 1,5-hexadiene, referred to as...