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Updated: Jun 17, 2026

Self-Assembly of Hybrid Lipid Membranes Doped with Hydrophobic Organic Molecules at the Water/Air Interface
Published on: May 1, 2020
Vesicle formation from an amphiphilic porphyrin derivative at the air-water interface
Amrita Ghosh1, Sipra Choudhury, Amitava Das
1Analytical Science Discipline, Central Salt & Marine Chemicals Research Institute, Bhavnagar 364002, Gujarat, India.
Abstract:
A tetraphenyl porphyrin derivative with two C(16) alkyl chains covalently bound to each of the four peripheral phenyl rings through ether linkages formed multilayer clusters or vesicles at the air-water surface. More interestingly, spherical vesicles were also formed when deposited on appropriate solid surfaces, and these vesicles were stable even in dry conditions. Various microscopic images of the cast film deposited on a mica surface confirmed closed-ended nanotube/nanorod-type formation with necking and bulging. These narrow tubes are proposed to be intermediates for the formation of vesicles by fission at either side of the bulge. Such vesicular formation is not common when either cast or Langmuir-Blodgett films were deposited on a solid surface.
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