Structure of polymerizable surfactant micelles: insights from neutron scattering

Although polymerization of reactive surfactants (surfmers) in micelles and other self-assembled phases has been studied for at least 30 years, the last decade or so has seen substantial advances in understanding both the structure and dynamics of these systems. In this review we highlight the new insights yielded primarily by small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) using high-flux sources, the perspective this provides for realizing topochemical polymerization in micellar systems, and the prospects and new developments for further exploiting SANS in this field. We present some new neutron contrast variation results exemplifying these elements.