School of Science, College of Science, Engineering and Health, RMIT University, Victoria 3000, Australia.
J Phys Chem Lett. 2021 Jan 14;12(1):399-404. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.0c03318. Epub 2020 Dec 24.
We herein report 13 protic ionic liquids (PILs) as tunable solvation media to regulate the internal lyotropic liquid crystalline mesophase of monoolein-based nanoparticles. A range of nanostructures, including inverse bicontinuous cubic, inverse hexagonal, and sponge/lamellar mesophases, were produced and verified by synchrotron small-angle X-ray scattering. Notably, manipulating the cation/anion structures of the PILs can alter the monoolein packing behavior and cause a sequential phase transition (hexagonal → cubic → lamellar) in the nanoparticles. The solvent channels inside the nanoparticles were enlarged up to 40% under certain PIL-water conditions, making these materials prospective for encapsulation of large molecules. Finally, a freeze-drying study demonstrated the ability of PILs to preserve nanostructure upon reconstitution of the nanoparticles compared to that in pure water. This study opens a new route for fine-tuning lyotropic liquid crystalline structures using PILs, which circumvents issues encountered using conventional salts.
我们在此报告了 13 种质子离子液体（PILs）作为可调溶剂介质，以调节基于单油酸甘油酯的纳米粒子的内溶致液晶中间相。通过同步加速器小角 X 射线散射，产生并验证了一系列纳米结构，包括反连续立方、反六方和海绵/层状中间相。值得注意的是，通过操纵 PIL 的阳离子/阴离子结构，可以改变单油酸甘油酯的堆积行为，并导致纳米粒子中发生顺序相转变（六方→立方→层状）。在某些 PIL-水条件下，纳米粒子内部的溶剂通道扩大了高达 40%，使得这些材料有望用于封装大分子。最后，冻干研究表明，与纯水中相比，PIL 能够在纳米粒子再形成时保留纳米结构的能力。这项研究为使用 PIL 精细调节溶致液晶结构开辟了一条新途径，避免了使用传统盐所遇到的问题。
