Supramolecular self-assembly between an amino acid-based surfactant and a sulfonatocalixarene driven by electrostatic interactions

Functional supramolecular systems: design and applications

The interest in functional supramolecular systems for the design of innovative materials and technologies, able to fundamentally change the world, is growing at a high pace. The huge array of publications that appeared in recent years in the global literature calls for systematization of the structural trends inherent in the formation of these systems revealed at different molecular platforms and practically useful properties they exhibit. The attention is concentrated on the topics related to functional supramolecular systems that are actively explored in institutes and universities of Russia in the last 10–15 years, such as the chemistry of host–guest complexes, crystal engineering, self-assembly and self-organization in solutions and at interfaces, biomimetics and molecular machines and devices.

The bibliography includes 1714 references.

Assembly behaviors of calixarene-based amphiphile and supra-amphiphile and the applications in drug delivery and protein recognition

Calixarene is the third generation of supra-molecular compounds after crown ether and cyclodextrin. Amphiphilic calixarene can be obtained by modulation with both hydrophilic group and hydrophobic alkyl chain. Compared with conventional surfactant, amphiphilic calixarene has much lower critical micelle concentration and is much easier to self-assemble into different morphological aggregates. Calixarene-basedsupra-amphiphile can be designed via noncovalent bonds due to the capability of calixarene to recognize surfactant; the binding of a surfactant with calixarene can decrease the critical micelle concentration of surfactant by several times. The calixarene-surfactant complex can self-aggregate to form spherical micelles, vesicles, and spherical nanoparticles, and the aggregation behavior can be controlled by the structures and the molar ratio of surfactant to calixarene and environmental factors. Calixarene-based amphiphile and supra-amphiphile show low cytotoxicity. They can load drugs and assemble into nanocapsules with drugs. The structure of the calixarene-drug complex can respond to external stimuli, rendering the sustained release of the drug and suggesting its potential application as a drug delivery system. Recently, calixarene has also been found to selectively bind proteins, suggesting its prospect in disease diagnosis and intervention treatment in clinics. This review elaborates on the research progress in the self-assembly behaviors of calixarene-based amphiphile and supra-amphiphile and the applications of the calixarenes in drug delivery and protein recognition. The prospectives for the studies are also provided in this review.

Self-assembly of supramolecular structure based on copper-lipopeptides isolated from e-waste bioleaching liquor

Supramolecular structures were produced by auto-assembling CuCN blocks derived from copper-lipopeptides (CuLps) isolated from bioleaching liquor. Lipopeptides produced by B. subtilis Hyhel1 have been previously related as responsible by bioleaching and intracellular copper crystal production. However, there were no records relating CuLps to extracellular copper crystal production. To study this process, CuLps were isolated from bioleaching liquor and kept at 8 °C to facilitate the CuLps aggregation. After three months, blue spheres (BS) were observed in the CuLp fraction. These spheres were then analyzed by SEM-EDS, MALDI-TOF-MS/MS, GC-MS and FTIR. SEM-EDS analysis showed that they were formed by polycrystalline structures mainly composed by Cu (46.5% m/m) and positioned concentrically. MALDI-TOF-MS/MS and GCMS showed that peptide bonds of CuLp were broken, producing lipid chains and amino acids free. The FTIR of BS showed three nitro groups: CN, NN and NO, which were not found in the control. These data suggest that the CuLp amino acid produced a CN group linked to copper, as CuCN blocks, that auto-assembled in supramolecular structures. This phenomenon could be explored as a method to recover copper and to obtain supramolecular CuCN structures, which in turn may be used as template for superconductor or computing devices.

Surface charge tunable catanionic vesicles based on serine-derived surfactants as efficient nanocarriers for the delivery of the anticancer drug doxorubicin

Self-assembled vesicles composed of amino acid-based cationic/anionic surfactant mixtures show promise as novel effective drug nanocarriers. Here, we report the in vitro performance of vesicles based on cationic (16Ser) and anionic (8-8Ser) serine-based surfactants using a cancer cell model for the delivery of the anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX). This catanionic mixture yields both negatively (0.20 in the cationic surfactant molar fraction, x16Ser) and positively (x16Ser = 0.58) charged vesicles, hence providing a surface charge tunable system. Low toxicity is confirmed for concentration ranges below 32 μM in both formulations. DOX is successfully encapsulated in the vesicles, resulting in a surface charge switch to negative for the (0.58) system, making both (0.20) and (0.58) DOX-loaded vesicles highly interesting for systemic administration. High uptake by cells was demonstrated using flow cytometry and confocal microscopy. Drug accumulation results in an increase of cell uptake up to 250% and 200% for the (0.20) and (0.58) vesicles, respectively, compared to free DOX and with localizations near the nuclear regions in the cells. The in vitro cytotoxicity studies show that DOX-loaded vesicles induce cell death, confirming the therapeutic potential of the formulations. Furthermore, the efficient accumulation of the drug inside the cell compartments harbors the potential for optimization strategies including phased delivery for prolonged treatment periods or even on-demand release.

Spontaneous catanionic vesicles formed by the interaction between an anionic β-cyclodextrins derivative and a cationic surfactant

The present work shows the synthesis of a new type of catanionic surfactant, ModCD14–BHD, which involves an anionic amphiphilic cyclodextrin and the cationic benzyl-n-hexadecyldimethylammonium (BHD). It is obtained from the simple association of the cationic surfactant benzyl-n-hexadecyldimethylammonium chloride (BHDC) and β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) monosubstituted with an alkenyl succinate group (Mod-β-CD14). ModCD14–BHD form unilamellar vesicles spontaneously in water, while the individual components (BHDC and Mod-β-CD14) do not. The vesicles were character-ized by dynamic light scattering (DLS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and ¹H NMR techniques. We suggest that the formation of an inclusion complex between some of the cyclodextrins units and the long hydrocarbon moiety of the cationic surfactant play a crucial role in the vesicles formation. Besides, some or the cavities are available to interact with an external guest. We think that the new surfactant molecule has properties that may lead to important applications in biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences.

Catanionic vesicles containing an anionic β-cyclodextrins derivative and a cationic surfactant.

Effect of Macrocycle Size on the Self-Assembly of Methylimidazolium Surfactant with Sulfonatocalix[n]arenes

The effect of macrocycle size on the association of supramolecular amphiphiles composed of 4-sulfonatocalix[n]arene and 1-methyl-3-tetradecylimidazolium (C₁₄mim⁺) was studied in aqueous solutions at pH 7. When the cavitand contained four sulfonatophenol units (SCX4), formation of spherical nanoparticles (NPs) was observed. By contrast, both supramolecular micelle (SM) and NP formation could be attained in the presence of NaCl when the larger, more flexible 4-sulfonatocalix[8]arene (SCX8) served as the host compound. The SCX8-promoted self-assembly into the SM was enthalpically more favorable than the NP production, but the molar heat capacity changes in the two processes barely differed. An addition of 50 mM NaCl significantly increased the enthalpy of C₁₄mim⁺-SCX8 NP formation, thereby making the self-organization into the SM more favorable. The transformation of SM into NP at high temperatures was due to the substantial entropic contribution to the driving force behind the NP formation. The critical micelle concentration (cmc) and the local polarity in the headgroup domain were considerably lower for the SM compared with those of the conventional C₁₄mim⁺Br^- micelle.

Controlling the release of hydrophobic compounds by a supramolecular amphiphilic assembly

Here, we report a novel approach of using a supramolecular system based on calix[4]resorcinarene and surfactant to facilitate the release of hydrophobic compounds.