Department of Chemical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 (USA).
Department of Energy and Chemical Engineering, Kumoh National Institute of Technology, Gumi, 730-701 (Republic of Korea).
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2015 Sep 7;54(37):10816-20. doi: 10.1002/anie.201504362. Epub 2015 Jul 23.
Molecular amphiphiles self-assemble in polar media to form ordered structures such as micelles and vesicles essential to a broad range of industrial and biological processes. Some of these architectures such as bilayer sheets, helical ribbons, and hollow tubules are potentially useful but inherently unstable owing to the presence of open edges that expose the hydrophobic bilayer core. Here, we describe a strategy to stabilize open bilayer structures using amphiphilic nanoparticle surfactants that present mixtures of hydrophilic and hydrophobic ligands on their surface. We observe that these particles bind selectively to the open edge of bilayer membranes to stabilize otherwise transient amphiphile assemblies. We show how such particles can precisely control the size of lipid tubules, how they can inhibit the formation of undesirable assemblies such as gallstone precursors, and how they can stabilize free-floating lipid microdiscs.
分子两亲体在极性介质中自组装形成有序结构，如胶束和囊泡，这些结构对于广泛的工业和生物过程至关重要。这些结构中的一些，如双层片、螺旋带和空心管，具有潜在的用途，但由于存在暴露疏水双层核心的开口边缘，因此本质上是不稳定的。在这里，我们描述了一种使用两亲性纳米粒子表面活性剂稳定开口双层结构的策略，这些表面活性剂在其表面呈现出亲水和疏水配体的混合物。我们观察到这些颗粒选择性地结合到双层膜的开口边缘，以稳定否则是瞬态的两亲体组装体。我们展示了这些颗粒如何精确控制脂质管的大小，它们如何抑制胆结石前体等不良组装体的形成，以及它们如何稳定游离的脂质微盘。
