Sentence:  ( 3 ) For anionics , these micelles appear to be roughly spherical assemblages in which the hydrocarbon tails come together so that the polar groups ( the ionized ends ) face outward towards the aqueous continuous <WSD>phase</WSD> . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  (physical chemistry) a distinct state of matter in a system; matter that is identical in chemical composition and physical state and separated from other material by the phase boundary