Self‐Assembled Vesicles with Functionalized Membranes

Abstract

Biological membranes play a key role for the function of living organisms. Thus, many artificial systems have been designed to mimic natural cell membranes and their functions. A useful concept for the preparation of functional membranes is the embedding of synthetic amphiphiles into vesicular bilayers. The dynamic nature of such noncovalent assemblies allows the rapid and simple development of bio-inspired responsive nanomaterials, which find applications in molecular recognition, sensing or catalysis. However, the complexity that can be achieved in artificial functionalized membranes is still rather limited and the control of their dynamic properties and the analysis of membrane structures down to the molecular level remain challenging.

Effect of 3,5‐Disubstitution on the Optical Properties of Luminescent 2‐(2′‐Hydroxyphenyl)benzoxazoles and Their Borate Complexes

“…Moreover, the K* band does not appear to be solvatochromic unlike the E* band, which spans from 439 nm in toluene to around 520 nm in EtOH. These interesting observations could pave the way to the ratiometric determination of polarity in the nearby environment of the probes in membrane mimics such as micellar or vesicular nano‐objects 18. To assess the internal charge‐transfer (ICT) character of the emission band in HBO dye 8 , which features a p ‐di‐ n ‐butylaminophenylacetylene moiety that readily undergoes protonation, the absorption and emission spectra were recorded in CH 2 Cl 2 after HCl gas was bubbled into the solution.…”

Selective recognition of anionic cell membranes using targeted liposomes coated with zinc(ii)-bis(dipicolylamine) affinity units

“…50,51 The selectivity for anionic cell surfaces was further demonstrated by selective staining of dead or dying mammalian cells in the presence of healthy cells, an experimental outcome that is consistent with the targeted liposome results of others. 52–54 While Zn 2 BDPA coated liposomes could simply be employed as dead cell stains for in vitro assays, we envision a more ambitious in vivo application as a cell death “theranostic” platform that combines therapeutic and diagnostic capabilities within a single nanoparticle. Moreover, a liposomal system with both cell death targeting and cytotoxic delivery capability has the potential of producing amplified drug delivery to the dead and dying cells within cancerous tissue.…”

Multifunctional Nanoparticles Self‐Assembled from Small Organic Building Blocks for Biomedicine

“…Therefore, it has inspired researchers to investigate the applications of artificial vesicular membranes in sensing targets like some important biological analytes . The membrane, as well its interior space, could serve as platforms for embedding biosensors because it is easy to engineer the membrane surface of a vesicle . Embedding acceptors into vesicle bilayers via approaches like covalent binding or noncovalent binding have been well elucidated by polydiacetylene (PDA)‐based liposomal biosensor matrices .…”