A photochemical study of uranyl ion interaction with the triton X-100 micellar system

This is a report on the spectroscopic characteristics of UO22+ in the excited state in Triton X-100 micellar medium. It also indicates some important results of viscosity and surface tension measurements of the system which have direct relevance to the spectroscopic investigation in the excited state. The quenching of the UO22+ fluorescence due to Triton X-100, upon micellization in the aqueous medium, reveals two kinds of microenvironments of the fluorophore from the Stern-Volmer plot. This has been verified by flash photolytic measurements. A blue shift of the quenched emission spectrum is ascribed to the collisional encounter of UO22+ with the head groups of Triton X-100. (C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc.