Issue 21, 2023

Molecular-level insights into a tripolyphosphate and pyrophosphate templated membrane assembly

Abstract

Templated assembly of small molecules into nano-structural architectures has been used extensively by nature throughout its evolution. These systems have also been studied in artificial systems to design a phosphate templated assembly. However, it is yet to be investigated how the molecules interact among themselves at the molecular level and whether the phosphate templated assembly has any role in the formation of prebiotic protocellular membranes. Here, we report the prebiotic synthesis of choline-based cationic amphiphiles (–N+Me3) and the templated assembly of these amphiphiles with tripolyphosphate (TPP) and pyrophosphate (PPi). SEM, TEM, FLIM, DLS, fluorescence, and encapsulation studies suggest that the number of phosphate units in the phosphate backbone controls the formation and size of the protocell vesicles. Isothermal titration calorimetry, turbidimetric studies, and NMR experiments suggest that the cationic amphiphile forms a 3 : 1 catanionic complex with TPP and a 2 : 1 catanionic complex with PPi. The templated catanionic complex further self-assembles into vesicles, and the structure of the complex guides the size of the assembly. The size-controlling ability of the phosphate backbone might have been utilized in the prebiotic era to support the dynamics and tunability of protocellular membrane compartments.

Graphical abstract: Molecular-level insights into a tripolyphosphate and pyrophosphate templated membrane assembly

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
05 Jan 2023
Accepted
24 Apr 2023
First published
24 Apr 2023

Soft Matter, 2023,19, 3884-3894

Molecular-level insights into a tripolyphosphate and pyrophosphate templated membrane assembly

M. Prasad, B. Hazra, A. Sardar, R. Mandal, S. Gayen and P. K. Tarafdar, Soft Matter, 2023, 19, 3884 DOI: 10.1039/D3SM00017F

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