ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the quantitative treatments of micellar rate effects developed from studies with normal micelles in water. It describes the development of ideas on micellar rate effects and the role of submicroscopic assemblies. It is difficult to relate bulk solvent properties to those at the surface of a submicroscopic colloid, but micellar rate effects on spontaneous reactions fit the assumption that polarity and water activity are somewhat lower at micellar surfaces than in water. Compilations of quantitative analyses of micellar rate effects based on the ion exchange model or variants of it are given. The pseudophase model in its various guises nicely explains many features of micellar rate effects and it can be applied, at least qualitatively, to reactions in a variety of colloidal assemblies, namely, vesicles, microemulsion droplets, aggregates of hydrophobic ammonium ions, and reverse micelles.
