Self-assembled systems based on novel hydroxyethylated imidazolium-containing amphiphiles: Interaction with DNA decamer, protein and lipid.

The study on aggregation capacity of novel imidazolium-containing amphiphiles of 1-(2-hydroxyethyl)alkylimidazolium bromide series and their interaction with bio-objects (DNA decamer, bovine serum albumin, phospholipid) was performed. It was revealed that introduction of hydroxyethyl moiety into the surfactant molecule resulted in 1.5-2-fold decrease of critical micelle concentration. These modified amphiphiles quantitatively bind DNA decamer due to intercalation and hydrophobic interactions with lipoplex formation. The evaluation of membranotropic properties of these surfactants exhibited that initiation of disordering and compression of the model cell wall consisting of dipalmitoyl phosphocholine (regulation of permeability for various compounds) could be achieved by variation of the length of hydrophobic tail of imidazolium-containing amphiphiles. Transition from individual surfactants solutions to their mixtures with protein (bovine serum albumin) is accompanied by 8-fold decrease of aggregation thresholds and characterized by the presence of two critical points. The binding of components of surfactant/BSA binary systems took place through tryptophan amino acid residue of peptide macromolecule.