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Updated: Jun 3, 2026

Directed Assembly of Elastin-like Proteins into defined Supramolecular Structures and Cargo Encapsulation In Vitro
Published on: April 8, 2020
Electrical switching between vesicles and micelles via redox-responsive self-assembly of amphiphilic rod-coils
Hoon Kim1, Sang-Mi Jeong, Ji-Woong Park
1Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, 261 Cheomdan-gwagiro, Buk-gu, Gwangju 500-712, Korea.
Abstract:
An aqueous vesicular system that is switchable by electric potential without addition of any chemical redox agents into the solution is demonstrated using redox-responsive self-assembly of an amphiphilic rod-coil molecule consisting of a tetraaniline and a poly(ethylene glycol) block. The vesicle membrane is split by an oxidizing voltage into smaller pucklike micelles that can reassemble to form vesicles upon exposure to a reducing voltage. The switching mechanism is explained by the packing behavior of the tetraaniline units constituting the membrane core, which depends on their oxidation states.
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