Spontaneous Vesicle Formation of Monododecenyl Phosphonic Acid in Water

We report the synthesis of amphiphilic dodecenyl phosphonic acid PC12 from vinylphosphonic acid, a reactive phosphonic acid intermediate. The trans-P-C=C moiety enabled PC12 to disperse well in water. Surface tension and dynamic light scattering measurements revealed that PC12 exhibited high surface activity and reduced the surface tension of water from 72.0 to 23.6 mN/m, thereby resulting in the spontaneous formation of aggregates even in a dilute aqueous solution (critical aggregation concentration (CAC) = 4.8 x 10(-4) M). In contrast to modern lipids with double-tailed structures, the PC12 of simple single-tailed structure spontaneously formed bilayered vesicles, without an external energy supply. Compared with the strength of hydrogen bonds formed by the long, saturated alkyl chain of dodecyl phosphonic acid (DPA), the strength of PC12 intermolecular hydrogen bonds was weaker. The melting point of PC12 was approximately 20 degrees C lower than that of DPA. These results indicate that the trans-P-C=C moiety was considerably important for spontaneous vesicle formation in water. Preliminary modeling of the morphological transitions of the closed bilayer structures in the vesicles was then conducted, by varying the pH and adding an alpha-helical peptide scaffold.