Destruction of Stearic Acid Nitroxyl Radicals Mediated by Photoexcited Merocyanine 540 in Liposomal and Micellar Systems

Fatty acid spin labels have been included into liposomes and micelles, in order to study the photochemical behavior of merocyanine 540 toward nitroxyl radicals situated at various depths in the bilayer or the surfactant layer. Visible illumination of the dye, either free in ethanol or bound to liposomes or micelles, leads to the reduction of the electron spin resonance signal of the label. The efficiency of the interaction between merocyanine 540 and spin labels depends on the depth at which the nitroxyl moiety is localized in the micelle or vesicle. Fluorescence measurements indicate that the first excited singlet state of merocyanine 540 is not directly implicated in the reaction mechanism. Flash photolysis experiments conducted in aqueous solutions of hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide micelles show that the presence of nitroxyl radical decreases the rate constant of triplet decay in a concentration-dependent fashion. The corresponding quenching rate constant (kq) is determined for the different spin labels. The kq values and the reduction rates of ESR signal show the same dependence on the localization of the nitroxyl moiety in the micelles.