Visualizing the Solid–Liquid Interface of Conjugated
Copolymer Films Using Fluorescent Liposomes
Yi Zhang
Achilleas Savva
Shofarul Wustoni
Adel Hama
Iuliana P. Maria
Alexander Giovannitti
Iain McCulloch
Sahika Inal
10.1021/acsabm.8b00323.s001
https://acs.figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Visualizing_the_Solid_Liquid_Interface_of_Conjugated_Copolymer_Films_Using_Fluorescent_Liposomes/7252505
Conjugated polymers
are promising engineering tools for establishing
bilateral electrical communication with living systems. The free energy
of their films, the roughness, and charge density play major roles
in determining their interactions with lipid bilayers, which form
the membrane barrier around every living cell allowing for molecular
exchange with the extracellular environment. In this work, we investigate
lipid bilayer formation from synthetic lipid vesicles (liposomes)
on a series of amphiphilic copolymer films based on naphthalene 1,4,5,8
tetracarboxylic diimide bithiophene (NDI-T2) backbone where the alkyl
side chain is gradually exchanged for an ethylene glycol-based side
chain. As the concentration of ethylene glycol in the composition
changes, the surface energy of the films varies drastically, which,
in turn, effects the interactions with liposomes. By imaging the interactions
of fluorophore-labeled liposomes with these surfaces via a fluorescence
microscope, we show that the films can be cast such that ethylene
glycol-rich regions, which liposomes favor, are accumulated on the
surface and extract information on the wettability behavior that has
not been possible using other surface sensitive techniques. This approach
uncovers the solid/liquid interface of a promising class of electron
transporting conjugated polymer films and suggests synthetic strategies
to maximize the number of lipid-polymer contacts for the formation
of supported lipid bilayers.
2018-10-15 00:00:00
liposomes
NDI-T
lipid bilayers
interaction
Fluorescent Liposomes Conjugated polymers
Conjugated Copolymer Films
alkyl side chain
ethylene glycol-based side chain
lipid bilayer formation
surface
ethylene glycol-rich regions
amphiphilic copolymer films