Novel vesicles formed spontaneously from the micelle solution of DTAB, a single-tailed surfactant (STS), mediated by a rough glass surface (RGS) without any additives. The obtained STS vesicles displayed good stability upon long-term storage, exposure to high temperatures, and freeze-thawing after the removal of RGS.

We report novel vesicles composed of the zwitterionic surfactant lauryl sulfobetaine (LSB), which is a simple single-tailed surfactant (STS). The novel vesicles spontaneously formed from LSB micellar solutions with the mediation of a rough glass surface (RGS) in the absence of any cosurfactants or additives. Importantly, the obtained STS vesicles displayed good stability upon long-term storage, exposure to high temperature, and freeze-thawing after the RGS was removed. The pH of the LSB solution (4.0-9.0) and the presence of NaCl (1.0 × 10(-5) and 1.0 × 10(-4) mol/L) in the LSB solution had no obvious influence on the formation and stability of the vesicles. The adsorption configuration of LSB on the RGS was investigated via water contact angle measurements and atomic force microscope observations. The results showed that LSB adsorption bilayers could form on the RGS, and the bilayer adsorption of LSB on the RGS and the roughness of the solid surface played a key role in the vesicle formation. A possible mechanism for the RGS-mediated formation of LSB vesicles is proposed: LSB micelles and molecules adsorb on the RGS to form curved bilayers, and the curved bilayers are then detached from the RGS and close to form vesicles. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of LSB alone forming vesicles. This finding extends our understanding of the nature of vesicle systems.

We report a novel model system of precursor cellular membranes, self-assembled from micellar solution of a common anionic single-tailed amphiphile (STA), including sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (SDBS). The self-assembly process was mediated with solid surfaces of Mg2Al-CO3 hydrotalcite-like compound (HTlc), an anionic clay, in the absence of cosurfactants or any additives. The resultant STA vesicles were characterized using negative-staining and cryogenic transmission electron microscopies, as well as dynamic light scattering and steady state fluorescence techniques. Interestingly, the obtained STA vesicles displayed good stability even after the removal of the anionic clay surface (ACS), and a self-reproduction phenomenon was observed for the "preformed" STA vesicles when mixing with corresponding STA micellar solutions. More importantly, the micelle-to-vesicle transition for SDS could be still arisen in high-salinity artificial seawater under the ACS mediation. Instead of conventional fatty acid scenario, our finding provides another novel possible model for protocell-like vesicles, which are easily formed under the plausible prebiotic conditions.

In this paper, we report a micelle-to-vesicle transition in aqueous solution of the anionic single-tailed surfactant (STS) sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (SDBS), with the mediation of a rough glass surface (RGS) in the absence of cosurfactants or additives. This transition produced a mixed solution of vesicles and micelles. Interestingly, the obtained SDBS vesicles in the solution displayed good stability during a long-term storage (at least 6 months at room temperature), exposure to high temperature (80 °C for 2 h), and freeze-thawing (-20 or -196 °C for 2 h to approximately 25 °C) after the RGS was removed. Our results confirmed that SDBS could adsorb on the RGS to form bilayers, in which the molecular packing parameter of SDBS was in the range of 1/2-1. The bilayer adsorption and the roughness of the solid surface played an important role in the vesicle formation. In addition, we propose a possible mechanism for the RGS-mediated transition of micelle-to-vesicle in SDBS solutions: SDBS micelles and molecules adsorb on the RGS to form curved bilayers; the curved bilayers detach from the RGS, and then close to form vesicles.

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