Ferrer-Tasies, Lidia; Moreno-Calvo, Evelyn; Cano-Sarabia, Mary; Aguilella-Arzo, Marcel; Angelova, Angelina; Lesieur, Sylviane; Ricart, Susagna; Faraudo, Jordi; Ventosa, Nora; Veciana, Jaume
Quatsomes: Vesicles Formed by Self-Assembly of Sterols and Quaternary Ammonium Surfactants
LANGMUIR, 29:6519-6528, JUN 4 2013

Thermodynamically stable nanovesicle structures are of high interest for academia and industry in a wide variety of application fields, ranging from preparation of nanomaterials to nanomedicine. Here, we show the ability of quaternary ammonium surfactants and sterols to self-assemble, forming stable amphiphilic bimolecular building-blocks with the appropriate structural characteristics to form in aqueous phases, closed bilayers, named quatsomes, with outstanding stability, with time and temperature. The molecular self-assembling of cholesterol and surfacant cetyltrimethlammonium bromide (CTAB) was studied by quasi-elastic light scattering, cryogenic transmission electron microscopy, turbidity (optical density) measurements, and molecular dynamic simulations with atomistic detail, upon varying the cholesterol-to-surfactant molar ration. As pure species, CTAB forms micelles and insoluble cholesterol molecules makes them self-assemble into biomolecular amphiphiles and then into bilayers in the presence of water. These bilayers have the same structure of those formed by double-tailed unimolecular amphiphiles.

DOI:10.1021/la4003803

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