Morphological changes of amphiphilic molecular assemblies induced by chemical reaction

Abstract

Shape transformations of amphiphilic molecular assemblies induced by chemical reaction are studied using coarse-grained molecular simulations. A binding reaction between hydrophilic and hydrophobic molecules is considered. It is found that the reaction induces transformation of an oil droplet to a tubular vesicle via bicelles and vesicles with discoidal arms. The discoidal arms close into vesicles, which are subsequently fused into the tubular vesicle. Under the chemical reaction, the bicelle-to-vesicle transition occurs at smaller sizes than in the absence of the hydrophobic molecules. It is revealed that the enhancement of this transition is due to embedded hydrophobic particles that reduce the membrane bending rigidity.

arXiv comment9 pages, 10 figures

References in corpus (6)

• Membrane simulation models from nm to $\mu$m scale
• Measurement of the bending rigidity and spontaneous curvature of fluid membranes in simulations
• Solvent-free coarse-grained lipid model for large-scale simulations
• Transport coefficients of dissipative particle dynamics with finite time step
• Confinement-induced shape transitions in multilamellar vesicles
• Possible role of 3He impurities in solid 4He

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Determination of Elastic Parameters of Lipid Membranes with Molecular Dynamics: A Review of Approaches and Theoretical Aspects
• Shape deformation of lipid membranes by banana-shaped protein rods: Comparison with isotropic inclusions and membrane rupture
• Cup-to-vesicle transition of a fluid membrane with spontaneous curvature
• Nonequilibrium Membrane Dynamics Induced by Active Protein Interactions and Chemical Reactions: A Review
• Virtual bending method to calculate bending rigidity, saddle-splay modulus, and spontaneous curvature of thin fluid membrane