Self-assembly mechanism of pH-responsive glycolipids : micelles, fibers, vesicles, and bilayers

A set of four structurally related glycolipids are described: two of them have one glucose unit connected to either stearic or oleic acid, and two other ones have a diglucose headgroup (sophorose) similarly connected to either stearic or oleic acid. The self-assembly properties of these compounds, poorly known, are important to know due to their use in various fields of application from cleaning to cosmetics to medical. At basic pH, they all form mainly small micellar aggregates. At acidic pH, the oleic and stearic derivatives of the monoglucose form, respectively, vesicles and bilayer, while the same derivatives of the sophorose headgroup form micelles and twisted ribbons. We use pH-resolved in situ small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) under synchrotron radiation to characterize the pH-dependent mechanism of evolution from micelles to the more complex aggregates at acidic pH. By pointing out the importance of the COO-/COOH ratio, the melting temperature, T-m, of the lipid moieties, hydration of the glycosidic headgroup, the packing parameter, membrane rigidity, and edge stabilization, we are now able to draw a precise picture of the full self-assembly mechanism. This work is a didactical illustration of the complexity of the self-assembly process of a stimuli-responsive amphiphile during which many concomitant parameters play a key role at different stages of the process

Development of a Cradle-to-Grave Approach for Acetylated Acidic Sophorolipid Biosurfactants

International audienceMicrobial production of biosurfactants represents one of the most interesting alternatives to classical petrol-based compounds due to their low toxicity, high biodegradability, and biological production processes from renewable bioresources. However, some of the main drawbacks generally encountered are the low productivities and the small number of chemical structures available, which limit widespread application of biosurfactants. Although chemical derivatization of (microbial) biosurfactants offers opportunities to broaden the panel of available molecules, direct microbial synthesis is still the preferred option and the use of engineered strains is becoming a valid alternative. In this multidisciplinary work we show the entire process of conception, upscaling of fermentation (150 L) and sustainable purification (filtration), application (foaming, solubilization, antibacterial), and life cycle analysis of acetylated acidic sophorolipids, directly produced by the Starmerella bombicola esterase knock out yeast strain, rather than purified using chromatography from the classical, but complex, mixture of acidic and lactonic sophorolipids

Self-assembly studies of sophorolipids

Les sophorolipides, appartenant à la famille des glycolipides produits par voie microbienne à l'échelle industrielle, possèdent un groupement COOH sensible au pH qui leur confèrent des propriétés d'auto-assemblage uniques. Dans ce travail, nous avons étudié deux variantes de cette molécules, une avec une chaîne alkyle saturée (C18:0 SL) et une avec des groupes acétyles sur la partie sucrée (C18:1a SL). Le C18:0 forme des rubans chiraux à pH < 7.5 que nous avons caractérisés avec des techniques de cryo microscopie, diffusion de la lumière, des neutrons et des rayons-X et de la RMN solide. Le composé mono-insaturé C18:1cis, étudié dans la littérature, s'auto-organise en micelles et ellipsoïdes sous les mêmes conditions que le C18:0 forme des rubans. A pH basique, la charge négative sur le COOH conduit à la formation de plaquettes pour les deux SL, C18:0 et C18:1cis. La molécule acétylée, C18:1a, ressemble dans son comportement au C18:1cis et forme des ellipsoïdes dont la longueur peut être modifiée avec le pH. Finalement, nous avons étudié l'effet du C18:0 sur la prolifération de cellules fibroblastes, pour une éventuelle application dans la cicatrisation de la peau.Sophorolipids (SL), a family of industrially-scaled bolaform microbial glycolipids, possess a pH-sensitive COOH group and are expected to exhibit a unique self-assembly behavior. In this work, we have studied 2 different types of this molecule, whose chemical structure has been modified on the alkyl chain (leading to the saturated C18:0 SL) and on the sophorose moiety (leading to the acetylated C18:1a SL). The C18:0 SL forms chiral nanofibers only at pH below 7.5 and we have characterized them with powerful techniques such as cryo-TEM, light, neutron and X-Ray scattering and solid state NMR. Interestingly, the mono-unsaturated compound (C18:1cis) self-organizes into micelles and ellipsoids under the same conditions (pH < 7.5), as reported in the literature. At basic pH, the negative charge on the COOH group drives the self-assembly towards platelet-like objects for both, C18:0 and C18:1cis SL. The acetylated compound C18:1a resembles the C18:1cis SL and forms ellipsoids, whose length can be triggered with the pH. Finally, we have investigated cell viability tests of C18:0 SL to human cells (fibroblasts) in vitro for potential wound healing applications of this biosurfactant

Practical methods to reduce impurities for gram-scale amounts of acidic sophorolipid biosurfactants

Raw sophorolipids, a variety of bioderived glycolipid biosurfactants produced by the yeast Candida bombicola, generally present themselves as a mixture of acetylated acidic and lactonic forms mixed with residual fatty acids. To recover the acidic form alone in large amounts, e.g., tens of grams, which is interesting for various applications in cleaning technologies, material science, medicine, one must either purify the mixture through column chromatography, thus tremendously reducing the final yield, or remove the fatty acids via hot hexane extraction followed by alkaline hydrolysis and a liquid-liquid extraction process; in the latter, pentanol, used as extraction medium, is a high boiling point solvent and, consequently, difficult to remove under standard vacuum extraction conditions. Here, we compare, quantify, and draw the positive and negative aspects of the typical hexane/pentanol extraction route compared to two additional ones, never reported for this system: a cold extraction from a pentanol/alkane mixture and a consecutive filtration on inverse C18-modified silica phase and silica gel in, respectively, water/acetonitrile and methanol/dichloromethane mixtures. The first one generates highly pure products but quantitative extraction is quite long (up to several days) while the second is an extremely handy and rapid (few hours) way but less quantitative as it provides a product with not less than 6% impurities

Structure of Bolaamphiphile Sophorolipid Micelles Characterized with SAXS, SANS, and MD Simulations

International audienceThe micellar structure of sophorolipids, a glycolipid bolaamphiphile, is analyzed using a combination of small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), small-angle neutron scattering (SANS), and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Numerical modeling of SAXS curves shows that micellar morphology in the noncharged system (pH< 5) is made of prolate ellipsoids of revolution with core–shell morphology. Opposed to most surfactant systems, the hydrophilic shell has a nonhomogeneous distribution of matter: the shell thickness in the axial direction of the ellipsoid is found to be practically zero, while it measures about 12 Å at its cross-section, thus forming a “coffee bean”-like shape. The use of a contrast-matching SANS experiment shows that the hydrophobic component of sophorolipids is actually distributed in a narrow spheroidal region in the micellar core. These data seem to indicate a complex distribution of sophorolipids within the micelle, divided into at least three domains: a pure hydrophobic core, a hydrophilic shell, and a region of less defined composition in the axial direction of the ellipsoid. To account for these results, we make the hypothesis that sophorolipid molecules acquire various configurations within the micelle including bent and linear, crossing the micellar core. These results are confirmed by MD simulations which do show the presence of multiple sophorolipid configurations when passing from spherical to ellipsoidal aggregates. Finally, we also used Rb+ and Sr2+ counterions in combination with anomalous SAXS experiments to probe the distribution of the COO– group of sophorolipids upon small pH increase (5 < pH < 7), where repulsive intermicellar interactions become important. The poor ASAXS signal shows that the COO– groups are rather diffused in the broad hydrophilic shell rather than at the outer micellar/water interface

pH-triggered formation of nanoribbons from yeast-derived glycolipid biosurfactants

International audienceIn the present paper, we show that the saturated form of acidic sophorolipids, a family of industrially scaled bolaform microbial glycolipids, unexpectedly forms chiral nanofibers only at pH below 7.5. In particular, we illustrate that this phenomenon derives from a subtle cooperative effect of molecular chirality, hydrogen bonding, van der Waals forces and steric hindrance. The pH-responsive behaviour was shown by Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS), pH-titration and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM) while the nanoscale chirality was evidenced by Circular Dichroism (CD) and cryo Transmission Electron Microscopy (cryo-TEM). The packing of sophorolipids within the ribbons was studied using Small Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS), Wide Angle X-ray Scattering (WAXS) and 2D H-1-H-1 through-space correlations via Nuclear Magnetic Resonance under very fast (67 kHz) Magic Angle Spinning (MAS-NMR)

Chromium-Templated Benzannulation of (η⁵-Cyclohexadienyl)Mn(CO)₃-Methoxy-Cr(CO)₅ Carbenes

Pentacarbonyl­{methoxy-[1-(η⁵-4-methoxy-6-phenylcyclohexadienyl)­tricarbonylmanganese]­carbene}­chromium (<b>5</b>) accessible from (η⁵-1-bromo-4-methoxy-6-phenylcyclohexadienyl)­tricarbonylmanganese (<b>4</b>) and Cr­(CO)₆ undergoes a chromium-templated benzannulation with 3-hexyne to give monometallic Cr complex <b>12</b> in 60% yield. The key feature of this reaction is the participation of a conjugated double bond of the η⁵-cyclohexadienyl-Mn moiety in the [3+2+1] benzannulation reaction. The X-ray structure of complex <b>12</b> reveals a <i>syn</i> position of the phenyl group with respect to the Cr tripod, supporting the participation of the Mn moiety in the benzannulation process

Nanoscale Platelet Formation by Monounsaturated and Saturated Sophorolipids under Basic pH Conditions

International audienceThe self-assembly behavior of the yeast-derived bolaamphiphile sophorolipid (SL) is generally studied under acidic/neutral pH conditions, at which micellar and fibrillar aggregates are commonly found, according to the (un)saturation of the aliphatic chain: the cis form, which corresponds to the oleic acid form of SL, spontaneously forms micelles, whereas the saturated form, which corresponds to the stearic acid form of SL, preferentially forms chiral fibers. By using small-angle light and X-ray scattering (SLS, SAXS) combined with high-sensitivity transmission electron microscopy imaging under cryogenic conditions (cryo-TEM), the nature of the self-assembled structures formed by these two compounds above pH 10, which is the pH at which they are negatively charged due to the presence of a carboxylate group, has been explored. Under these conditions, these compounds self-assemble into nanoscale platelets, despite the different molecular structures. This work shows that the electrostatic repulsion forces generated by COO− mainly drive the self-assembly process at basic pH, in contrast with that found at pH below neutrality, at which self-assembly is driven by van der Waals forces and hydrogen bonding, and thus, is in agreement with previous findings on carbohydrate-based gemini surfactants

Prognostic Impact of Stromal Immune Infiltration before and after Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy (NAC) in Triple Negative Inflammatory Breast Cancers (TNIBC) Treated with Dose-Dense Dose-Intense NAC

International audienceInflammatory breast cancers are very aggressive, and among them, triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) has the worst prognosis. While many studies have investigated the association between tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) before neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) and outcome in TNBC, the impact of post-NAC TIL and TIL variation in triple negative inflammatory breast cancer (TNIBC) outcome is unknown. Between January 2010 to December 2018, all patients with TNIBC seen at the breast disease unit (Saint-Louis Hospital) were treated with dose-dense dose-intense NAC. The main objective of the study was to determine factors associated with event-free survival (EFS), particularly pathological complete response (pCR), pre- and post-NAC TIL, delta TIL and post-NAC lymphovascular invasion (LVI). After univariate analysis, post-NAC LVI (HR 2.06; CI 1.13-3.74; p = 0.02), high post-NAC TIL (HR 1.81; CI 1.07-3.06; p = 0.03) and positive delta TIL (HR 2.20; CI 1.36-3.52; p = 0.001) were significantly associated with impaired EFS. After multivariate analysis, only a positive TIL variation remained negatively associated with EFS (HR 1.88; CI 1.05-3.35; p = 0.01). TNIBC patients treated with intensive NAC who present TIL enrichment after NAC have a high risk of relapse, which could be used as a prognostic marker in TNIBC and could help to choose adjuvant post-NAC treatment