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Supramolecular Self-Assembly into Biofunctional Soft Nanotubes: From Bilayers to Monolayers
Toshimi Shimizu1, Naohiro Kameta2, Wuxiao Ding2
1AIST Fellow, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) , Tsukuba Central 5, 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8565, Japan.
Langmuir : the ACS Journal of Surfaces and Colloids
|June 2, 2016
Summary
Researchers designed bolaamphiphiles to create unsymmetrical monolayer lipid nanotubes. These novel soft nanotubes exhibit unique inner and outer surface functionalities for diverse biological applications.
Area of Science:
- Supramolecular Chemistry
- Materials Science
- Nanotechnology
Background:
- Bilayer lipid nanotubes lack selective surface modification capabilities.
- Monolayer nanotubes offer distinct inner/outer functionalities when bolaamphiphiles assemble with head-to-tail interfaces.
Purpose of the Study:
- To achieve exclusive formation of unsymmetrical monolayer lipid membranes.
- To explore rational molecular design of bolaamphiphiles for tubular architectures.
Main Methods:
- Bolaamphiphile molecular design.
- Control of polymorph and polytype during self-assembly.
- Utilizing polymer templates, hydrogen bonds, and coassembly strategies (binary, ternary).
- Two-step self-assembly processes.
Main Results:
- Successful fabrication of soft nanotubes with completely unsymmetrical inner and outer surfaces.
- Demonstrated control over self-assembly into specific tubular architectures.
Conclusions:
- Unsymmetrical monolayer lipid nanotubes offer novel functionalities.
- Potential applications include protein refolding, drug delivery, biosensing, and chiral induction.
