pH-dependent aggregation properties of mixtures of sugar-based gemini surfactants with phospholipids and single-tailed surfactants

Sugar-based gemini surfactants (GSs) display rich pH-dependent phase diagrams and are considered to be promising candidates as gene- and drug-delivery vehicles for biomedical applications. Several sugar-based GSs form vesicles around neutral pH. The vesicular dispersions undergo transitions toward wormlike micelles and spherical micelles at acidic pH, whereas flocculation followed by redispersion upon charge reversal is observed at basic pH. The influence of various amounts of the double-tailed phospholipids DOPC (1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine) and DOPE (1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine) and of the single-tailed surfactants lyso-PC (1-palmitoyl-2-hydroxysn-glycero-3-phosphocholine) and OTAC (octadecyltrimethylammonium chloride) on the phase behavior of GS1 (1,8-bis(N-octadec-9-yr-1-deoxy-D-glucitol-1-ylamino)3,6-dioxaoctane) was determined as a function of pH, in water and in water at physiological ionic strength. The pH corresponding to the phase transitions and the characteristics of the aggregates were determined by means of a combination of physical techniques: static and dynamic light scattering (SLS and DLS), fluorescence spectroscopy, cryo-TEM and diffusion- and P-31 NMR. The results show that the additives affect the phase behavior of the GS1 dispersions in a pH-dependent fashion. In the presence of double-tailed phospholipids, a higher degree of protonation of GS1 must be reached to observe micelle formation, whereas single-tailed surfactants affect these transitions only slightly. In the presence of increasing amounts of lyso-PC, the pH range of flocculation becomes more narrow, indicating the increased hydration of the vesicles. The pH of redispersion after charge reversal is particularly sensitive to the presence of positively charged additives. It is suggested that the cationic headgroups disturb the hydrogen-bond structure of water at the vesicular surface, hampering OH- binding. The effect of an increase in ionic strength to physiological values is found to be modest, except for the dispersions containing the positively charged additives