Amphiphiles Self-Assembly: Basic Concepts and Future Perspectives of Supramolecular Approaches

Abstract

Amphiphiles are synthetic or natural molecules with the ability to self-assemble into a wide variety of structures including micelles, vesicles, nanotubes, nanofibers, and lamellae. Self-assembly processes of amphiphiles have been widely used to mimic biological systems, such as assembly of lipids and proteins, while their integrated actions allow the performance of highly specific cellular functions which has paved a way for bottom-up bionanotechnology. While amphiphiles self-assembly has attracted considerable attention for decades due to their extensive applications in material science, drug and gene delivery, recent developments in nanoscience stimulated the combination of the simple approaches of amphiphile assembly with the advanced concept of supramolecular self-assembly for the development of more complex, hierarchical nanostructures. Introduction of stimulus responsive supramolecular amphiphile assembly-disassembly processes provides particularly novel approaches for impacting bionanotechnology applications. Leading examples of these novel self-assembly processes can be found, in fact, in biosystems where assemblies of different amphiphilic macrocomponents and their integrated actions allow the performance of highly specific biological functions. In this perspective, we summarize in this tutorial review the basic concept and recent research on self-assembly of traditional amphiphilic molecules (such as surfactants, amphiphile-like polymers, or lipids) and more recent concepts of supramolecular amphiphiles assembly which have become increasingly important in emerging nanotechnology.

Soft Interaction in Liposome Nanocarriers for Therapeutic Drug Delivery

“…When phospholipids are dispersed in water, they aggregate spontaneously into bilayers, which resemble the structures they form in biological membranes. The final organization, morphology, and physicochemical properties of lipids-based liposomes depend on the nature, size, and geometry of their lipid components, concentration, temperature, and surface charge [7,8,9,10,11]. …”

“…A high electrostatic repulsion on the surface of charged liposomes prevents their aggregation and flocculation and could promote their interaction with cells [7,8,9,10,11,22]. Characterization of nanoparticle surface charge is usually done by measuring the particle zeta potential, which corresponds to the electrostatic potential of the nanocarriers measured at the so-called shear plane, (i.e.…”

“…Nanocarriers in a biological environment very often undergo aggregation in specific solution conditions [11,22]. Nanocarrier stability can be enhanced through the addition of small amounts of polymer to the solution medium.…”

How self-assembly of amphiphilic molecules can generate complexity in the nanoscale

“…The non-covalent interactions may be H-bonds, van der Waals interactions, - ones, electrostatic effects and so on. A more detailed description of the entities of such interactions is reported in ref [3]. All these interactions are much less intense than the covalent bond, so the consequent supra-molecular assemblies are less stable and are much more susceptible to ruptures and/or changes at small variations of the physical parameter (Temperature...) or chemical conditions (pH...)…”

Influence of Lecithin – Propylene Glycol Intermolecular Interactions at the Water / Vaseline Oil Interphase on the Formation of Self-Organizing Structures

“…При самоорганизации молекул поверхностно-активных веществ (ПАВ) возникают различные структуры, такие как везикулы, липосомы, микроэмульсии (МЭ) и жидкие кристаллы (ЖК) [1]. Варьирование типа и концентрации амфифильных веществ позволяет управлять областью существования образующихся молекулярных структур, формой и размером агрегатов и в целом макроскопическим поведением системы.…”