NEW VESICLE-POLYMER HYBRIDS - THE PARACHUTE ARCHITECTURE

The influence of organized media on polymerization reactions results i n many cases in interesting morphologies of the polymeric material. In the present study, vesicle bilayers were used as ordered medium for t he free radical polymerization of styrene. Cryo-electron microscopy gi ves evidence that the polymerization induces phase-separation phenomen a leading to parachute-like morphologies. On the basis of general know ledge about vesicles and polymerizations in heterogeneous media, expla nations for the observed phenomena are given. Bearing in mind that ves icles are outstanding models for membrane mimetic chemistry, it become s evident that these findings can be relevant to the investigation of, for example, membrane-protein interactions.