Different locations of adenine in AOT and CTAB reverse micelles

摘要

We explore the locations of adenine encapsulated in the anionic Aerosol-OT (AOT) and cationic cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) reverse micelles (RMs) utilizing steady-state spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulations. In AOT RMs with various water contents, adenine forms stacked conformers at the AOT/water interface, determined by the appearance of emission from adenine excimers and molecular dynamics simulations. In contrast, adenine resides in the water core of CTAB RMs without the formation of stacked conformers. The interbase distance of stacked adenines at the AOT/water interface has a significant fluctuation, especially in RMs of low water content. Hydrogen bonding interactions between adenine and AOT molecules play a role in the formation of stacked adenines. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.