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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Sep 13, 2025

Aqueous Droplets Used as Enzymatic Microreactors and Their Electromagnetic Actuation

Aqueous Droplets Used as Enzymatic Microreactors and Their Electromagnetic Actuation

Published on: August 28, 2017

Water-in-Fluorous Solvent Microemulsions: Media for (Bio)molecular Solvation.

Deepika¹, Anuj Sharma¹, Siddharth Pandey¹

¹Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016, India.

Langmuir : the ACS Journal of Surfaces and Colloids

|July 31, 2025

Summary

Stable water pools form in fluorous solvents using a perfluorinated emulsifier, creating water-in-fluorous microemulsions (MEs). These MEs show potential for pulmonary drug delivery, possibly replacing conventional volatile organic compound-based MEs.

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Unraveling Entropic Rate Acceleration Induced by Solvent Dynamics in Membrane Enzymes

Unraveling Entropic Rate Acceleration Induced by Solvent Dynamics in Membrane Enzymes

Published on: January 16, 2016

Area of Science:

Materials Science
Physical Chemistry
Nanotechnology

Background:

Conventional microemulsions (MEs) often utilize volatile organic compounds (VOCs), posing environmental and health concerns.
Fluorous solvents offer unique properties but traditionally struggle with incorporating aqueous phases.
Developing stable, non-VOC-based solvent systems is crucial for advanced applications like drug delivery.

Purpose of the Study:

To demonstrate the formation of stable water pools within fluorous solvents.
To characterize the structure and properties of these novel water-in-fluorous (w/fluorous) microemulsions (MEs).
To investigate the solvation behavior of various solutes within these w/fluorous MEs and assess their potential for drug delivery.

Main Methods:

Formation of w/fluorous MEs using perfluoroheptanoic acid (PFHA) in fluorous solvents.
Characterization using pseudo-ternary phase diagrams, dynamic light scattering (DLS), small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), and FTIR spectroscopy.
Solute solvation studies using fluorescence spectroscopy (rhodamine 6G, fluorescein Na salt, pyranine, (-)-riboflavin) and protein solubilization (bovine serum albumin).

Main Results:

Stable w/fluorous MEs were successfully formed and characterized as spherical.
Hydrodynamic diameter and radius of gyration increased with water content.
Solutes like dyes and proteins preferentially solvated within the water pools, indicating effective encapsulation and interaction.
Evidence of J aggregation for a porphyrin within the water pools was observed.

Conclusions:

Stable w/fluorous microemulsions can be formed, offering an alternative to conventional VOC-based systems.
These MEs provide unique water pools for solute solvation and interaction.
The w/fluorous ME system shows significant promise for pulmonary drug delivery applications.