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Updated: May 15, 2026

Facile Preparation of Internally Self-assembled Lipid Particles Stabilized by Carbon Nanotubes
Published on: February 19, 2016
Bolaform surfactants with polyoxometalate head groups and their assembly into ultra-small monolayer membrane vesicles
Steve Landsmann1, Martin Luka, Sebastian Polarz
1Department of Chemistry, University of Konstanz, D-78457 Konstanz, Germany.
Abstract:
Surfactants are indispensable in established technologies as detergents or emulsification agents, and also in recent studies for controlling the growth of nanoparticles or for creating nanocarriers. Although the properties of conventional, organic surfactants are thoroughly explored, strong interest persists in surfactants that possess unique features inaccessible for ordinary systems. Here we present dipolar, bolaform surfactants with a head group comprising of 11 tungsten atoms. These novel compounds are characterized by an exceptionally low critical self-organization concentration, which leads to monolayer vesicles with a diameter of only 15 nm, that is, substantially smaller than for any other system. The membrane of the vesicles is impermeable for water-soluble and oil-soluble guests. Control over release kinetics, which can be followed via the quantitative fluorescence quenching of confined fluorophores, is gained by means of pH adjustments.
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