Dry films of glycerolipids and sphingolipids on cellulose paper, when placed into aqueous solutions, rapidly assemble into cell-sized giant lipid vesicles. This surprising property of ubiquitous cellulose paper introduced – in a method that does not require a power source or specialized equipment – a sustainable and economical means of scaling up the production of biomimetic lipid vesicles. In this talk, I report that the phenomena of cellulose paper-assisted assembly of membranous vesicles 5 – 20 µm in diameter is general to a variety of scientifically and technologically important amphiphiles of diverse chemical structures and complexities such as fatty acids and amphiphilic block copolymers. Assembly of vesicles occurred on the cellulose fibers within 90 minutes of placing the amphiphile-coated paper into aqueous solutions. Varying thermal and chemical conditions, however, were required for vesicle assembly to occur. The inertness of cellulose allowed adaptation of paper to these different conditions. Rapidly assembling vesicles from diverse amphiphiles using cellulose paper is useful for studies of the origins of life, for making containers for drug delivery, and for producing artificial cells.<br/>

Cellulose paper assembles vesicles from fatty acids and amphiphilic block copolymers

255th National Meeting (2018)

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