Stable aqueous SWNT dispersion up to 92% was achieved using amino acid based amphiphiles through a structure-property investigation. The nanohybrids showed remarkable serum stability and biocompatibility to mammalian cells.

Naphthalene diimide amphiphiles functionalized with the dipicolylethylenediamine motif self-assemble with tunable chirality upon molecular recognition with various adenosine phosphates and competitive guest binding leads to the dynamic helix reversal of these assemblies.

At submicromolar concentrations, capsaicin specifically activates the TRPV1 receptor involved in nociception. At micro- to millimolar concentrations, commonly used in clinical and in vitro studies, capsaicin also modulates the function of a large number of seemingly unrelated membrane proteins, many of which are similarly modulated by the capsaicin antagonist capsazepine. The mechanism(s) under...

Integral membrane proteins (IMPs) are crucial biological components, mediating the transfer of material and information between cells and their environment. Many IMPs have proven to be difficult to isolate and study. High-resolution structural information on this class of proteins is limited, largely because of difficulties in generating soluble forms of such proteins that retain native folding...

Carbon-rich organic compounds containing a series of conjugated triple bonds (oligoynes) are relevant synthetic targets, but an improved access to oligoynes bearing functional groups would be desirable. Here, we report the straightforward synthesis of two series of oligoyne amphiphiles with glycoside or carboxylate polar head groups, investigate their self-assembly behavior in aqueous media, an...

We investigate bulk and interfacial properties of a recently proposed hard-body model for a ternary mixture of amphiphilic particles, spheres and needles using density functional theory. The simple model amphiphiles are formed by bonding a vanishingly thin needle tail radially to a hard-sphere head group. Such particles provide a natural amphiphile when added to a binary mixture of spheres and ...

The material parameters (area stretch modulus and bending rigidity) of two-component amphiphilic membranes are determined from dissipative particle dynamics simulations. The preferred area per molecule for each species is varied so as to produce homogeneous mixtures or nonhomogeneous mixtures that form domains. If the latter mixtures are composed of amphiphiles with the same tail length, but di...

Amphiphilic molecules have proven to be of extraordinary value because they bear the potential to bridge the molecular scale and the nanoscale. They are characterized by two linked molecular parts, which have different solvent compatibilities. When used with a solvent that is compatible with only one of the molecular regions, self-assembly into higher organized structures, such as micelles and ...

The morphology of the aggregates formed from the self-assembly of aryl triazole amphiphiles is disrupted upon the binding of a bromide anion due to the conformational changes experienced by these receptors.

The synthesis and aggregation behavior of photo-switchable, nonionic dendritic amphiphiles was investigated with regard to transport and release of guest molecules. The correlation between the critical micelle concentration and the switching ability is shown.