Chains, Sheets, and Droplets:
Assemblies of Hydrophobic
Gold Nanocrystals with Saturated Phosphatidylcholine Lipid and Squalene
- Publication date
- Publisher
Abstract
Assemblies of saturated 1,2-diacylphosphatidylcholine
lipid and
hydrophobic dodecanethiol-capped 1.8 nm diameter gold nanocrystals
were studied as a function of lipid chain length and the addition
of the naturally occurring oil, squalene. The gold nanocrystals formed
various lipid-stabilized agglomerates, sometimes fusing with lipid
vesicle bilayers. The nanocrystal assembly structure depended on the
hydrocarbon chain length of the lipid fatty acids. The lipid with
the shortest fatty acid length studied, dilauroylphosphatidylcholine,
created extended chains of gold nanocrystals. The lipid with slightly
longer fatty acid chains created planar sheets of nanocrystals. Further
increases of the fatty acid chain length led to spherical agglomerates.
The inclusion of squalene led to lipid- and nanocrystal-coated oil
droplets