Stomatosomes: perforated bilayer structures

Abstract

Stomatosomes and related structures formed by perforated fluid bilayer have been identified in a number of systems comprising surfactants and/or lipids. The types of system show a strong variation, but at the same time the conditions allowing such structures to evolve seem rather restrictive. Small changes in the nature of the surfactant can make the perforated bilayers disappear, and also give a major change of the phase behavior. This behavior is exemplified with phase diagrams for systems with C_xTAC (alkyltrimethylammonium chloride, x is number of carbons in the alkyl chain; x = 12,14,16) and lipids in brine. On an increase of the spontaneous curvature the perforated bilayers can be found between lamellar bilayers (or smooth vesicles in dilute samples) and cylindrical micelles. The formation of perforations may be understood as a cooperative process starting at a critical concentration of a surfactant in the bilayer. The surfactant promotes the formation of toroidal holes rimmed by hemi cylindrical micelles. With increasing surfactant concentration the surfactant-rich edges increase in length and finally results in bands or cylindrical micelles. Some theoretical calculations on these types of structures are discussed briefly. Observations and theoretical calculations suggest that usually different structures may give similar free-energies, resulting in coexistence of structures and sensitivity to minor effects.