TOPOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATIONS MEDIATED BY BILAYER PUNCTURES - FROM SPONGE PHASES TO BICONTINUOUS MONOLAYERS AND REVERSED SPONGES

The geometric and topological effects of the introduction of punctures into an amphiphilic bilayer are discussed. It is argued that puncture s can be induced spontaneously in response to changing molecular dimen sions or concentration. Transformation of sponge mesophases to biconti nuous monolayers, and the inversion of sponges for type I to II (and v ice versa) are shown to be possible by puncture growth alone, without any membrane tearing or critical behaviour en route. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.