Micelle Formation in Aqueous Solutions of the Cholesterol-Based Detergent Chobimalt Studied by Small-Angle Scattering

The structure and interaction parameters of the water-soluble cholesterol-based surfactant, Chobimalt, are investigated by small-angle neutron and X-ray scattering techniques. The obtained data are analyzed by a model-independent approach applying the inverse Fourier transformation procedure as well as considering a model fitting procedure, using a core-shell form factor and hard-sphere structure factor. The analysis reveals the formation of the polydisperse spherical or moderately elongated ellipsoidal shapes of the Chobimalt micelles with the hard sphere interaction in the studied concentration range 0.17-6.88 mM. The aggregation numbers are estimated from the micelle geometry observed by small-angle scattering and are found to be in the range of 200-300. The low pH of the solution does not have a noticeable effect on the structure of the Chobimalt micelles. The critical micelle concentrations of the synthetic surfactant Chobimalt in water and in H2O-HCl solutions were obtained according to fluorescence measurements as similar to 3 mu M and similar to 2.5 mu M, respectively. In-depth knowledge of the basic structural properties of the detergent micelles is necessary for further applications in bioscience and biotechnology.

Automated summary

The structure and interaction parameters of water-soluble cholesterol-based surfactant Chobimalt were studied using small-angle neutron and X-ray scattering techniques. The analysis revealed the formation of polydisperse spherical or moderately elongated ellipsoidal micelles with hard sphere interaction. The aggregation numbers were estimated to be in the range of 200-300, and the low pH had no noticeable effect on the micelle structure. The critical micelle concentrations of Chobimalt in water and H2O-HCl solutions were determined to be around 3 μM and 2.5 μM, respectively. In-depth understanding of the detergent micelle's structural properties is crucial for applications in bioscience and biotechnology.