Reverse wormlike micelles: a special focus on nuclear magnetic resonance investigations

Systems made of water, surfactant, and oil exhibit a rich variety of microstructures. Among these, the networks based on cylindrical geometries can be entangled or interconnected, depending on the formulation of the system, and represent a challenging topic. Lecithin reverse wormlike micelles (WLMs), because of the exceptionally slow dynamics of molecules and aggregates, are a system of choice for NMR studies. After a brief introduction of the pulsed field magnetic gradient (PFG)-NMR and Rheo-NMR techniques, the progress achieved in the past years in rationalizing the structure and dynamics of lecithin reverse WLMs is reviewed.