Synergistic Interaction between Cholesterol and Functionalized Ionic Liquid Based Surfactant Leading to the Morphological Transition

Abstract

AbstractStable vesicular aggregate is the primary requisite to transport and deliver the biological and pharmaceutical standards. The serendipitous discovery of nonlipid vesicles made with the nonlipid building blocks, such as ionic liquid based surfactants (ILBSs) proved to be advantageous over others. In a quest to achieve stable, more rigid and hydrophobic vesicles from ILBSs, here we have investigated the lipid (cholesterol) induced unilamellar vesicle formation in the aqueous functionalized and nonfunctionalized ILBSs. The vesicles show outstanding stability with time, temperature and dilution with water. Spectroscopic (turbidity, steady state absorbance and fluorescence), scattering (dynamic light scattering) and microscopic (transmission electron microscopy) techniques were used to characterize the vesicles. The hydration behavior and rigidity associated with the vesicular bilayer on transforming from micellar assembly was characterized through steady state absorbance and fluorescence techniques. The unilamellar vesicles derived are compared with the conventional surfactant, i. e. cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide.