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Updated: Aug 8, 2026
Controlling the Size, Shape and Stability of Supramolecular Polymers in Water
Published on: August 2, 2012
Photoresponsive supramolecular strategy for controlled assembly in light-inert double-chain surfactant system
Xuejiao Wang1, Xuedong Gao2, Xiao Xiao2
1Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (BNLMS), State Key Laboratory for Structural Chemistry of Unstable and Stable Species, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, PR China; Fujian Provincial University Engineering Research Center of Industrial Biocatalysis, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350007, PR China.
Hypothesis:
One of the main advances in double-chain surfactant systems has been their progress from the construction of assemblies to the transformation application in medicine and material science, especially to the drug delivery systems. Thus, it is critical to develop stimuli-responsive assemblies based on double-chain surfactants. We predicted that reversible assembly switching can be achieved by manipulation of the ternary host-guest competitive complexation among β-cyclodextrin (β-CD), surfactants, and designed azobenzene (Azo).
Experiments:
In this work, Azo was introduced into vesicles using supramolecular assembly strategy. Vesicles are formed only when Azo moieties are in trans-form. UV switching of Azo groups led to fast disruption of the Azo@β-CD complexes and relatively slow disintegration of the vesicles. With the alterative irradiation of UV and Vis light, the photoisomerization of azo group provokes the reversible disassembly and reassembly of vesicles.
Findings:
This photo-responsive supramolecular strategy offered a controllable way to prepare responsive vesicles assembled from complex double-chain surfactants, such as phospholipids, which could be further used in drug delivery systems. This new perspective is instructive for the design and functional use of complex surfactants assembly. Importantly, the study results paved the way for the development of novel light-responsive assembly materials operating in aqueous media and biological field.
