A SANS investigation on micelles from short-chain phospholiponucleosides

Short chain lecithin nucleosidic derivatives have been synthesized through an enzymatic pathway and their aggregational properties in water solution h ave been investigated by means of SANS. Micellar solutions formed by diC(8) P-Ade and diC(8)P-Uri have been studied as a function of pH, ionic strengt h and amphiphile concentration. Remarkable differences from the aggregation al behavior of homologous phosphocholines are observed, since the concentra tion-dependent micellar growth is not displayed with phospholiponucleosides . A spectroscopic investigation of base/base interactions in micellar solut ions has highlighted that complementary bases are able either to stack and to hydrogen bond on the micellar surface, thus reproducing in a dynamic str ucture the characteristics of macromolecular polynucleotides. A possible co rrelation of this property with structural data as obtained by SANS is prop osed. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.