Diacetylenic lipid tubules: experimental evidence for a chiral molecular architecture.
Molecular self-assembly is of key importance for the rational design of advanced materials. To investigate the causal relation between molecular structure and the consequent self-assembled microstructure, self-assembled tubules of diacetylenic lipids were studied. Circular-dichroism studies give experimental evidence that the formation of tubules is driven by chiral molecular packing, in agreement with recent theories of tubules. On the basis of these results, a molecular mechanism for the formation of tubules is proposed.
Schnur
J M
JM
Ratna
B R
BR
Selinger
J V
JV
Singh
A
A
Jyothi
G
G
Easwaran
K R
KR