We report on biohybrid surfactants, termed "giant amphiphiles", in which a protein or an enzyme acts as the polar head group and a synthetic polymer as the apolar tail. It is demonstrated that the modification of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and myoglobin (Mb) with an apolar polymer chain through the cofactor reconstitution method yields giant amphiphiles that form spherical aggregates (vesicle...

Aged HS erythrocytes with a defined primary defect in band 3 protein or ankyrin were incubated with amphiphiles (detergents) at sublytic concentrations (37 C, 60 min) or glucose-starved (37 C, 24 h). In line with previous studies, the release of AChE (exovesicles) from HS erythrocytes during glucose-starvation was significantly higher (11%) compared to that from control erythrocytes (1%). Contr...

We investigate the thermodynamic behavior of a model polymer-grafted nanoparticle (GNP) system on a fine lattice, using grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations, to compare and contrast the validity of two different models for GNPs: "nanoparticle amphiphiles" versus "patchy particles." In the former model, continuous self-assembly processes are expected to dominate the system, whereas the latter...

Peptide amphiphiles are a class of molecules that combine the structural features of amphiphilic surfactants with the functions of bioactive peptides and are known to assemble into a variety of nanostructures. A specific type of peptide amphiphiles are known to self-assemble into one-dimensional nanostructures under physiological conditions, predominantly nanofibers with a cylindrical geometry....

Ester-type tartaric gemini amphiphiles bearing two carboxyl groups and two hydrophobic alkanoyl groups were prepared from L-tartaric acid, and the pressure-area (π-A) isotherms for a series of symmetric tartaric gemini amphiphiles were measured by the conventional film-balance technique. The effects of the length of the hydrophobic alkanoyl chains and of the subphase temperature (T(sub)) on the...

A description of the emergence of life should delineate a chemically rigorous gradual transition from random collections of simple organic molecules to spatially confined assemblies displaying rudimentary self-reproduction capacity. It has been suggested that large sets of mutually catalytic molecules, and not self-replicating information-carrying biopolymers, could have been the precursors of ...

We construct a phase diagram for self-assembling biologically active peptide amphiphiles. The structure and stability of the assemblies are studied as a function of pH and salinity of the solution. The general features of the phase diagram are predicted based on theoretical modeling of the self-assembly process, as well as experimental data, and further experiments are performed to verify and a...

Vegetable oils are frequently structured to enhance their organoleptic and mechanical properties. This is usually achieved by increasing the net amount of saturated and/or trans fatty acids in the oil. With the risk of coronary heart diseases associated with these fatty acids, the food industry is looking for better alternatives. In this context, the medium-chain dialkanoates of low-calorie sug...

Self-assembly has been recognised as a ubiquitous aspect of modern chemistry. Our understanding and applications of self-assembly are substantially based on what has been learned from biochemical systems. In this review, we describe various aspects of self-assembly commencing with an account of the soft structures that are available by assembly of surfactant amphiphiles, which are important sci...

Mixing of oppositely charged amphiphilic molecules (catanionic mixing) offers an attractive strategy to produce morphologies different from those formed by individual molecules. We report here on the use of catanionic mixing of anticancer drug amphiphiles to construct multiwalled nanotubes containing a fixed and high drug loading. We found that the molecular mixing ratio, the solvent compositio...