This 2D view swaps the spatial 3D box for the pseudophase model's own native picture: two compartments in equilibrium. The left disk is the bulk-water pseudophase; the right disk is the pooled micellar pseudophase (its radius grows with the micellized surfactant concentration D). Dots hop between the two compartments at stochastic rates set by the partition coefficient KS and the surfactant dose, exactly as in the Menger–Portnoy / Berezin two-pseudophase treatment — this is the same equilibrium the 3D scene approximates by testing spatial proximity to individual micelles, drawn instead as the compartment network the model is actually built from.
The bottom strip plots the full saturation curve kobs(D) analytically, with a marker at the current dose — the same relationship, seen as a parameter curve instead of read off a single running average:
k_obs = (k_w + k_m · K_S · D) / (1 + K_S · D)
D = [surfactant] − CMC (micellized surfactant concentration)
K_S = substrate/micelle partition (binding) constant
k_w = rate constant in bulk water (pseudophase = "w")
k_m = rate constant inside the micellar pseudophase
- Surfactant concentration — below 1× CMC, D = 0 and every dot stays in the aqueous compartment (bulk-water kinetics only); above it, the micellar compartment grows and the hop rate into it rises.
- KS — how strongly substrate hops into the micellar compartment; higher KS saturates the curve at a lower dose.
- km/kw — the reaction-rate multiplier applied only while both partners share the micellar compartment.
Real systems: this is the same mechanism behind CTAB-catalyzed ester hydrolysis and countless surfactant-accelerated reactions used in green chemistry.