Physicochemical Foundations of Micellar Catalysis

The structure and the properties of micelles of surface-active substances in aqueous solution are briefly surveyed. Attention is paid mainly to solubilisation and methods for investigating the location of solubilised molecules. Kinetic concepts of micellar catalysis are examined and compared. The role of various factors (concentration effect, orientation, shift in pK_a of reactants, change of environment) in the micellar effects observed in organic reactions is analysed. A list of 113 references is included.