scholarly journals Aggregation behaviour of a single-chain, phenylene-modified bolalipid and its miscibility with classical phospholipids

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 995-1007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Drescher ◽  
Vasil M Garamus ◽  
Christopher J Garvey ◽  
Annette Meister ◽  
Alfred Blume

In the present work, we describe the synthesis of a single-chain, phenylene-modified bolalipid with two phosphocholine headgroups, PC-C18pPhC18-PC, using a Sonogashira cross-coupling reaction as a key step. The aggregation behaviour was studied as a function of temperature using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and small angle neutron scattering (SANS). We show that our new bolalipid self-assembles into nanofibres, which transform into flexible nanofibres at 27 °C and further to small elongated micelles at 45 °C. Furthermore, the miscibility of the bolalipid with bilayer-forming phosphatidylcholines (DMPC, DPPC, and DSPC) was investigated by means of DSC, TEM, FTIR, and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). We could show that the PC-C18pPhC18-PC is partially miscible with saturated phosphatidylcholines; however, closed lipid vesicles with an increased thermal stability were not found. Instead, bilayer fragments and disk-like aggregates are formed.

Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 1426
Author(s):  
Tomáš Remiš ◽  
Petr Bělský ◽  
Tomáš Kovářík ◽  
Jaroslav Kadlec ◽  
Mina Ghafouri Azar ◽  
...  

In this work, advanced polymer nanocomposites comprising of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and nanodiamonds (NDs) were developed using a single-step solution-casting method. The properties of the prepared PVA/NDs nanocomposites were investigated using Raman spectroscopy, small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS/WAXS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). It was revealed that the tensile strength improved dramatically with increasing ND content in the PVA matrix, suggesting a strong interaction between the NDs and the PVA. SEM, TEM, and SAXS showed that NDs were present in the form of agglomerates with an average size of ~60 nm with primary particles of diameter ~5 nm. These results showed that NDs could act as a good nanofiller for PVA in terms of improving its stability and mechanical properties.


Soft Matter ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (11) ◽  
pp. 3096-3104
Author(s):  
Valeria Castelletto ◽  
Jani Seitsonen ◽  
Janne Ruokolainen ◽  
Ian W. Hamley

A designed surfactant-like peptide is shown, using a combination of cryogenic-transmission electron microscopy and small-angle X-ray scattering, to have remarkable pH-dependent self-assembly properties.


Author(s):  
Chang Dae Han

Block copolymer consists of two or more long blocks with dissimilar chemical structures which are chemically connected. There are different architectures of block copolymers, namely, AB-type diblock, ABA-type triblock, ABC-type triblock, and AmBn radial or star-shaped block copolymers, as shown schematically in Figure 8.1. The majority of block copolymers has long been synthesized by sequential anionic polymerization, which gives rise to narrow molecular weight distribution, although other synthesis methods (e.g., cationic polymerization, atom transfer radical polymerization) have also been developed in the more recent past. Owing to immiscibility between the constituent blocks, block copolymers above a certain threshold molecular weight form microdomains (10–50 nm in size), the structure of which depends primarily on block composition (or block length ratio). The presence of microdomains confers unique mechanical properties to block copolymers. There are many papers that have dealt with the synthesis and physical/mechanical properties of block copolymers, too many to cite them all here. There are monographs describing the synthesis and physical properties of block copolymers (Aggarwal 1970; Burke and Weiss 1973; Hamley 1998; Holden et al. 1996; Hsieh and Quirk 1996; Noshay and McGrath 1977). Figure 8.2 shows schematically four types of equilibrium microdomain structures observed in block copolymers. Referring to Figure 8.2, it is well established (Helfand and Wasserman 1982; Leibler 1980) that in microphase-separated block copolymers, spherical microdomains are observed when the volume fraction f of one of the blocks is less than approximately 0.15, hexagonally packed cylindrical microdomains are observed when the value of f is between approximately 0.15 and 0.44, and lamellar microdomains are observed when the value of f is between approximately 0.44 and 0.50. Some investigators have observed ordered bicontinuous double-diamonds (OBDD) (Thomas et al. 1986; Hasegawa et al. 1987) or bicontinuous gyroids (Hajduk et al. 1994) at a very narrow range of f (say, between approximately 0.35 and 0.40) for certain block copolymers. Figure 8.2 shows only one half of the symmetricity about f = 0.5. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) have long been used to investigate the types of microdomain structures in block copolymers.


2014 ◽  
Vol 29 (S1) ◽  
pp. S47-S53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Sommariva ◽  
Milen Gateshki ◽  
Jan-André Gertenbach ◽  
Joerg Bolze ◽  
Uwe König ◽  
...  

X-ray diffraction and scattering on a single multipurpose X-ray platform have been used to probe the structure, composition, and thermal behavior of TiO2 nanoparticles ranging in size from 1 to 10 nm. Ambient and non-ambient Bragg diffraction, small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), as well as total scattering and pair-distribution function (PDF) analysis are combined to obtain a comprehensive picture of the samples. At these ultrasmall particle-size dimensions, SAXS and PDF prove powerful in distinguishing the salient features of the materials, in particular the size distribution of the primary particles (SAXS) and the identification of the TiO2 polymorphs (PDF). Structural features determined by X-ray scattering techniques are corroborated by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The elemental make-up of the materials has been measured using X-ray fluorescence spectrometry and energy-dispersive X-ray analysis.


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