Lipid adsorption block copolymers

Recently, scientific interest has been concentrated on interactions between amphiphilic block copolymers and lipid mono- and bilayers [196-200], Understanding the nature of such interactions will open a route towards multiple applications in fields as biophysics, biomedicine, and biotechnology. Particular areas of scientific interest are, for instance, elucidation of the mechanism of membrane-sealing capabilities of block copolymers penetrating into lipids [198,201] and how adsorption of amphiphilic block copolymers to liposomes enhances their stability [202,203], Furthermore, the interactions between polymers and biomembranes play a central role in the investigation of polymer-induced flip-flop within lipid membranes [200, 204, 205], and in the triggered generation of synthetic membrane channels and pores in lipid membranes [196],... 

PS-PAA monolayers turned out to be an excellent template for polyelectrolyte layer-by-layer (LbL) deposition [85]. In contrast to a lipid monolayer, the block copolymer film enabled monolayer viscosity measurements after adsorption of each added layer. In addition, it seems that the viscoelastic properties of the polyelectrolyte multilayer are dominated by the properties of the underlying block copolymer monolayer. 

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