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Loading of Vesicles into Soft Amphiphilic Nanotubes using Osmosis
Author(s) -
Erne Petra M.,
van Bezouwen Laura S.,
Štacko Peter,
van Dijken Derk Jan,
Chen Jiawen,
Stuart Marc C. A.,
Boekema Egbert J.,
Feringa Ben L.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.201506493
Subject(s) - vesicle , amphiphile , bilayer , lipid bilayer , materials science , nanotechnology , polymersome , membrane , self assembly , phospholipid , chemical engineering , biophysics , chemistry , copolymer , composite material , polymer , biochemistry , engineering , biology
Abstract The facile assembly of higher‐order nanoarchitectures from simple building blocks is demonstrated by the loading of vesicles into soft amphiphilic nanotubes using osmosis. The nanotubes are constructed from rigid interdigitated bilayers which are capped with vesicles comprising phospholipid‐based flexible bilayers. When a hyperosmotic gradient is applied to these vesicle‐capped nanotubes, the closed system loses water and the more flexible vesicle bilayer is pulled inwards. This leads to inclusion of vesicles inside the nanotubes without affecting the tube structure, showing controlled reorganization of the self‐assembled multicomponent system upon a simple osmotic stimulus.