Search results for "Amphiphile"
showing 10 items of 270 documents
Switchable assembly of stable, ordered molecular layers
1999
Bisamidines can be assembled on self-assembled monolayers of mercaptoalkanoic acids on gold to form stable and ordered but pH-switchable layers (see diagram). At basic pH the layers are stable and charge selective towards charged surfactants and plasma proteins. The system can potentially be used to reversibly introduce new surface properties for given applications that use one single substrate.
Self-assembly in surfactant-based liquid mixtures: Bis(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid/bis(2-ethylhexyl)amine systems
2010
Surfactant-based liquid mixtures constitute an interesting class of nanostructured materials with promising potential in specialized applications. Here, structural and conductometric properties of liquid mixtures composed of bis(2-ethylhexyl)amine (BEEA) and bis(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid (HDEHP) have been thoroughly investigated with the aim to correlate structural features with system charge transport capability. The evolution of self-assembled local nanostructures with system composition has been investigated by FT-IR and XRD while the conductometric properties were probed by conventional AC complex impedance. Both pure components exhibit nano-segregation due to their amphiphilic natur…
New Features in the dynamics of a ferroin-catalyzed Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction induced by a zwitterionic surfactant
2008
Abstract Interactions between reaction–diffusion systems and aggregated host environments are a subject of widespread interest. In this work, the behavior of the Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction was investigated in a micellar environment formed by the zwitterionic surfactant N-tetradecyl-N,N-dimethylamine oxide (C14DMAO). The appearance of an induction period with a threshold-like dependence upon the surfactant concentration, was detected at [C14DMAO] = 5.0 × 10−3 mol dm−3. These new features were explained in terms of the segregation ability typical of the amphiphilic self-assembling systems. Numerical simulations were also performed to confirm the proposed mechanism.
Carboxylated-xyloglucan and peptide amphiphile co-assembly in wound healing.
2021
Abstract Hydrogel wound dressings can play critical roles in wound healing protecting the wound from trauma or contamination and providing an ideal environment to support the growth of endogenous cells and promote wound closure. This work presents a self-assembling hydrogel dressing that can assist the wound repair process mimicking the hierarchical structure of skin extracellular matrix. To this aim, the co-assembly behaviour of a carboxylated variant of xyloglucan (CXG) with a peptide amphiphile (PA-H3) has been investigated to generate hierarchical constructs with tuneable molecular composition, structure, and properties. Transmission electron microscopy and circular dichroism at a low c…
Supramolecular polymerization of sulfated dendritic peptide amphiphiles into multivalent L-selectin binders
2021
The synthesis of a sulfate-modified dendritic peptide amphiphile and its self-assembly into one-dimensional rod-like architectures in aqueous medium is reported. The influence of the ionic strength on the supramolecular polymerization was probed via circular dichroism spectroscopy and cryogenic transmission electron microscopy. Physiological salt concentrations efficiently screen the charges of the dendritic building block equipped with eight sulfate groups and trigger the formation of rigid supramolecular polymers. Since multivalent sulfated supramolecular structures mimic naturally occurring L-selectin ligands, the corresponding affinity was evaluated using a competitive SPR binding assay…
Long-chain fatty acyl-CoA esters induce lipase activation in the absence of a water-lipid interface.
2003
In most lipases a mobile element or lid domain covers the catalytic site of the enzyme and the lid opening event, which usually proceed at a lipid-water interface, is required to form the catalytically competent lipase. We report here a noticeable increase in activity of two fungal lipases assayed in aqueous solution in absence of any interface when adding submicellar concentrations of amphipathic physiological molecules like long-chain acyl-CoAs. The catalytic activity was dramatically dependent on the acyl chain length of the amphiphile and could be related with a lid-opening process. Our data support that lipase activation can be triggered in the absence of a well-defined interface, and …
Amphiphilic poly(hydroxyethylaspartamide) derivative-based micelles as drug delivery systems for ferulic acid
2008
Self-assembling micelles, potentially useful as drug delivery systems for ferulic acid (FA), were obtained in aqueous media from amphiphilic alpha,beta-poly(N-2-hydroxyethyl)-dl-aspartamide (PHEA) copolymers bearing at the polyamino acidic backbone both poly(ethyleneglycol) (2000 or 5000 Da) and hexadecylamine (C(16)) moieties, at a concentration of 7 x 10(- 3) and 4 x 10(- 3) g/l, respectively, with nanometre size and negative zeta potential. These micelles were able to entrap FA and to release it in a prolonged way in phosphate buffer solution at pH 7.4 and human plasma. These systems were also stable in storage conditions and have no cytotoxic effects on Caco-2, 16 HBE, HuDe and K562 cel…
α, ω-Dipolar amphiphiles: Influence of rigid and flexible units on aggregation behavior
1993
Mono- and α,ω-dipolar amphiphiles with hydrophilic pyridinium head groups, and flexible and rigid hydrophobic parts have been synthesized. Surface tension and conductivity measurements proved that micellar aggregates for amphiphiles 1–4 are formed. The incorporation of rigid units leads to a decrease in the critical micellar concentration (CMC): the rigid monopolar amphiphile 2 aggregates at lower concentration than the flexible monopolar amphiphile 1. A similar decrease was observed when chain ends were connected: the flexible α,ω-dipolar amphiphile 3 has a lower CMC than the flexible monopolar amphiphile 1. The more flexible amphiphiles 1–3 allow the formation of micelles of different sha…
Contribution of Molecular Structure to Self-Assembling and Biological Properties of Bifunctional Lipid-Like 4-(N-Alkylpyridinium)-1,4-Dihydropyridines
2019
The design of nanoparticle delivery materials possessing biological activities is an attractive strategy for the development of various therapies. In this study, 11 cationic amphiphilic 4-(N-alkylpyridinium)-1,4-dihydropyridine (1,4-DHP) derivatives differing in alkyl chain length and propargyl moiety/ties number and position were selected for the study of their self-assembling properties, evaluation of their cytotoxicity in vitro and toxicity on microorganisms, and the characterisation of their interaction with phospholipids. These lipid-like 1,4-DHPs have been earlier proposed as promising nanocarriers for DNA delivery. We have revealed that the mean diameter of freshly prepared nanoparti…
Tuning the pH-Switch of Supramolecular Polymer Carriers for siRNA to Physiologically Relevant pH
2017
The preparation of histidine enriched dendritic peptide amphiphiles and their self-assembly into multicomponent pH-switchable supramolecular polymers is reported. Alternating histidine and phenylalanine peptide synthons allow the assembly/disassembly to be adjusted in a physiologically relevant range of pH 5.3-6.0. Coassembly of monomers equipped with dendritic tetraethylene glycol chains with monomers bearing peripheral primary amine groups leads to nanorods with a tunable cationic surface charge density. These surface functional supramolecular polycations are able to reversibly bind short interfering RNA (siRNA). The nanorod-like supramolecular polymers, their complexation with siRNA, and…