Bolaamphiphiles, self-assembled molecules

In this section the emphasis will be on assemblies prepared from amphiphilic dendrimers. Amphiphilic dendrimers, carrying both hydrophobic and hydrophilic regions within one molecule, tend to self-assemble into a large variety of different aggregates depending on their structure. The dendritic amphiphiles investigated so far include unimolecular micelles, bolaamphiphiles, superam-phiphiles and various other AB and ABA block copolymers. 

The self-assembly of bolaamphiphiles into potentially useful nano- and microstructures has been the subject of intense studies in recent years. These molecules contain both peptide and nonpeptide segments (Figure 14a-f) and, over the course of several days in water, they form nanotubes with a wide range of diameters, ranging from 20 nm to 1 om. In order to control the diameter, nanotubes have been prepared within polycarbonate membranes. 

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