Membrane properties of sodium 2- and 6-(poly)prenyl-substituted polyprenyl phosphates

Abstract

The amphiphilic 2- and 6-(poly)prenyl-substituted polyprenyl phosphates and their isomers, spontaneously form vesicles. Vesicle formation depends on the pH of the buffer and the structural features of the hydrophobic chains such as their lengths and the double bond positions. The compactness of the vesicles was estimated by measuring their water permeability, evaluating the intramolecular attractive van der Waals forces between the highly branched chains and measuring the spin–lattice relaxation times in 13C NMR spectra.