Buckled Membranes in Mixed-Valence Ionic Amphiphile Vesicles

摘要

A great challenge in supramolecular chemistry is the design of molecules that can self-assemble into functional aggregates with well-defined 3D structures. To achieve this goal it is important to understand the interplay of attractive and repulsive forces in determining supramolecular shape. It has been hypothesized that when oppositely charged amphiphilic molecules are mixed, they can form vesicles with a periodic 2D ionic (electrostatic) lattice. This tendency opposes the membrane's natural curvature and can result in the buckling of vesicles. Previously, mixtures of monovalent anionic and cationic surfactants have been shown to generate micrometer-sized nonspherical (icosahedral) vesicles when mixed.