Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, United States.
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, United States.
Methods Enzymol. 2024;700:235-273. doi: 10.1016/bs.mie.2024.04.023. Epub 2024 May 9.
Hierarchic self-assembly is the main mechanism used to create diverse structures using soft materials. This is a case for both synthetic materials and biomolecular systems, as exemplified by the non-covalent organization of lipids into membranes. In nature, lipids often assemble into single bilayers, but other nanostructures are encountered, such as bilayer stacks and tubular and vesicular aggregates. Synthetic block copolymers can be engineered to recapitulate many of the structures, forms, and functions of lipid systems. When block copolymers are amphiphilic, they can be inserted or co-assembled into hybrid membranes that exhibit synergistic structural, permeability, and mechanical properties. One example is the emergence of lateral phase separation akin to the raft formation in biomembranes. When higher-order structures, such as hybrid membranes, are formed, this lateral phase separation can be correlated across membranes in the stack. This chapter outlines a set of important methods, such as X-ray Scattering, Atomic Force Microscopy, and Cryo-Electron Microscopy, that are relevant to characterizing and evaluating lateral and correlated phase separation in hybrid membranes at the nano and mesoscales. Understanding the phase behavior of polymer-lipid hybrid materials could lead to innovative advancements in biomimetic membrane separation systems.
层次自组装是使用软物质创建多种结构的主要机制。这适用于合成材料和生物分子系统,例如脂质通过非共价键组织成膜。在自然界中,脂质通常组装成单层,但也会遇到其他纳米结构,例如双层堆叠、管状和囊泡聚集体。合成嵌段共聚物可以被设计为再现脂质系统的许多结构、形式和功能。当嵌段共聚物具有两亲性时,它们可以插入或共组装到混合膜中,从而表现出协同的结构、渗透性和机械性能。一个例子是类似于生物膜中筏形成的侧向相分离的出现。当形成更高阶结构,例如混合膜时,可以在堆叠中的膜之间进行这种侧向相分离的相关性分析。本章概述了一组重要的方法,例如 X 射线散射、原子力显微镜和冷冻电子显微镜,这些方法与在纳米和介观尺度上对混合膜中的侧向和相关相分离进行表征和评估相关。了解聚合物-脂质混合材料的相行为可能会导致仿生膜分离系统的创新性进展。
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