Self-assembled vesicles with functionalized membranes.

Authors :: Gruber B
König B
Source :: Chemistry (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) [Chemistry] 2013 Jan 07; Vol. 19 (2), pp. 438-48. Date of Electronic Publication: 2012 Nov 23.
Publication Year :: 2013
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.<br /> (Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)