The Self-Assembly of Vesicles and why they Remain in Solution

The Self-Assembly of Vesicles and why they Remain in Solution 

Firstly we have to differentiate between monolayer (MLM) and bilayer (BLM) lipid membranes in vesicles. MLMs are composed of bolaamphiphiles these are amphiphiles which carry two head groups, namely one on each end of a hydrophobic core. Two head groups instead of one renders the amphiphile more water-soluble. Two short alkyl chains with 12 or more methylene groups, or one long chain with more than 24 hydrophobic atoms must be employed in order to obtain amphiphiles with a low critical vesicular concentration ( cvc 10 M). The general abbreviation cmc is, however, usually applied instead of cvc . 

In extended bilayer lipid membranes ( Myelin figures ), made of single 

Fuhrhop, S. Svenson, in Kinetics and Catalysis in Microheterogeneous Systems, (Surfactant Science Series, Vol. 38), M. Dekker Inc., New York, 1991, 273 

Fuhrhop, T. Bach, Advances in Supramolecular Chemistry 2, JAI Press, Greenwich, Connecticut, 1992, 25 

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