Lipid-assisted formation and dispersion of aqueous and bilayer-embedded nano-C60

Lipid assemblies provide a biocompatible approach for preparing aqueous nanoparticles. In this work, dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) was used to assist in the formation and dispersion of C(60) and nano-C(60) aggregates using a modified reverse phase evaporation (REV) method. This method led to the rapid formation of aqueous nano-C(60) at DPPC/C(60) molar ratios from 500:1 to 100:1 (12-38 nm; verified by cryogenic transmission electron microscopy), which were present in the bulk phase and encapsulated within vesicles. In addition to forming nanoparticles, C(60) was trapped within the vesicle bilayer and led to a reduction in the lipid melting temperature. Solvent extraction was used to isolate nano-C(60) from the lipids and bilayer-embedded C(60). Our results suggest that bilayer-embedded C(60) was present as molecular C(60) and as small amorphous nano-C(60) (2.3 +/- 0.4 nm), which clustered in the aqueous phase after the lipids were extracted. In addition to developing a new technique for nano-C(60) formation, our results suggest that the lipid bilayer may be used as a hydrophobic region for dispersing and assembling small nano-C(60).