A molecular strategy for creating functional vesicles with balancing structural stability and stimuli-responsiveness.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Supramolecular Chemistry
• Biomaterials

Background:

• Vesicles are crucial functional materials, but achieving both structural stability and stimulus responsiveness simultaneously presents a challenge.
• Next-generation functional vesicles require adaptable membrane structures for diverse applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a molecular design strategy for creating giant vesicles (GVs) with enhanced structural stability and controlled stimulus responsiveness.
• To investigate the role of intermolecular hydrogen bonding in GV membrane structure and function.

Main Methods:

• Synthesis of amphiphiles with and without amide linkages.
• Characterization of GVs using 1H NMR analysis and fluorescence spectroscopy with environment-responsive probes.
• Investigation of photoresponsive deformation using azobenzene-containing amphiphiles under UV and visible light.

Main Results:

• Amphiphiles with amide linkages formed GVs with enhanced structural stability due to intermolecular hydrogen bonding.
• GVs incorporating azobenzene showed distinct photoresponsive deformation: amide-linked GVs exhibited large, irreversible changes, while non-amide GVs showed modest, reversible changes.
• The observed differences in photoresponse were attributed to the influence of hydrogen bonding on membrane structure.

Conclusions:

• Intermolecular hydrogen bonding in amphiphilic GVs significantly enhances structural stability.
• Molecular design of amphiphiles provides a method to tune photoresponsive behavior (reversible vs. irreversible deformation) in GVs.
• This study offers a molecular methodology for developing highly functional vesicles with tailored properties.