Liposome Encapsulation of Conjugated Polyelectrolytes:  Toward a Liposome Beacon

Abstract

Herein we report the encapsulation of fluorescent conjugated polyelectrolytes (CPEs) within 100 nm diameter liposomes, their subsequent specific immobilization onto polyethylene-glycol-coated glass coverslips and their observation via single molecule spectroscopy. We believe that this novel architecture, a surface tethered liposome beacon, will prove instrumental in developing membrane sensing schemes. It will further facilitate single molecule spectroscopy studies on the spectroscopic properties of CPEs.