Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 11, 2026

Facile Preparation of Internally Self-assembled Lipid Particles Stabilized by Carbon Nanotubes
Published on: February 19, 2016
Cavity Orientation Regulated by Mixture Composition and Clustering of Amphiphilic Cyclodextrins in Phospholipid
John J Pinzón Barrantes1, Bruno Maggio2, Rita H de Rossi1
1Instituto de Investigaciones en Fisicoquímica de Córdoba (INFIQC-UNC-CONICET), Departamento de Química Orgánica, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Haya de la Torre y Medina Allende, Ciudad Universitaria , X5000HUA Córdoba, Argentina.
Abstract:
Artificial supramolecular-hierarchical structures that emulate nature represent an overcoming alternative for the design of new drug delivery systems. Thermodynamic and topographic properties of films formed by a monoacylated amphiphilic β-cyclodextrin (βCD-C16) with the phospholipid 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (POPC) at the air/water interface were studied. βCD-C16 formed stable mixed films with POPC at several proportions when spread together at the air/water interface. The orientation of βCD-C16 cavity at the interface depends on its mole fraction in the film as reveled by the analysis of partial mean molecular areas as a function of composition. Furthermore, βCD-C16 was able to penetrate POPC preformed films in a broad range of initial surface pressures, including that near the collapse pressure of the phospholipid. These results demonstrated the strong tendency of βCD-C16 to be inserted into this lipid matrix commonly used in liposome formulations. Topography studies show that βCD-C16 segregate from POPC forming clusters enriched in βCD-C16. Segregation of βCD-C16 was especially noticeable when βCD-C16 were incorporated by themselves into a preformed POPC matrix leading to ordered and highly birefringent structures that suggest the formation of hierarchical stacked βCD-C16 arrangement at the interface.
Related Concept Videos
Membrane Fluidity
Fluid Mosaic Model
Asymmetric Lipid Bilayer
Mechanisms of Membrane Domain Formation
Another mechanism for membrane domain formation involves membrane proteins interacting with cytoskeletal...
Clathrin Coated Vesicles
Micelles

