Abstract

Steady state fluorescence spectroscopy was used to study the mechanism of electron transfer reaction between hemoglobin and curcumin (biologically active molecules) in nanoemulsion. Nanoemulsion is a thermodynamically stable heterogeneous system madeup of water, oil and a dispersing agent, usually a surfactant and a cosurfactant in appropriate ratios. The reaction is postulated as activation controlled and the requisite energies: Gibb’s free energy, ΔGo , (1.317 eV), the solvent reorganization energy, λ, (0.76 eV), the activation energy, ΔG± , (1.02 eV) and its attendant first order rate constant, kact, (1.68 x 1011/s) were determined. They were used to formulate a plausible electron transfer mechanism.

Keywords

nanoemulsion, activation-controlled, quenching, bimolecular, heterogeneous, electron-transfer