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Updated: Aug 13, 2026

Phase Behavior of Charged Vesicles Under Symmetric and Asymmetric Solution Conditions Monitored with Fluorescence Microscopy
Published on: October 24, 2017
Effect of phosphatidylcholine vesicle size on chirality induction and chiral discrimination
Hiroko Nakagawa1, Mayumi Onoda, Yuichi Masuoka
1Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Josai University, Saitama, Japan. hnaka@josai.ac.jp
Abstract:
The effect of the size of phosphatidylcholine (PC) vesicles on the induction of chirality and chiral discrimination was examined. Three kinds of vesicles formed with l-dimyristoyl, l-dipalmitoyl, or egg yolk PCs induced circular dichroisms (CDs) with the sign and intensity of the Cotton effect different from those of monomeric PCs. The CD intensity of the vesicles increased with a decrease in the vesicle size. Furthermore, the helicity of heterohelicene derivatives in a rapid equilibrium between right-handed (P) and left-handed (M) enantiomers was biased toward the M enantiomer side in l-PC vesicles, implying chiral discrimination by the vesicles. The extent of the bias toward the M enantiomer increased with an increase in vesicle size. Both the chirality induction and chiral discrimination were enhanced in a low-fluidity gel phase in comparison with those in a high-fluidity liquid-crystalline phase for every kind of vesicle of every size examined.
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