Protein Microgel-Stabilized Pickering Liquid Crystal Emulsions Undergo Analyte-Triggered Configurational Transition
Protein Microgel-Stabilized Pickering Liquid Crystal Emulsions Undergo Analyte-Triggered Configurational Transition
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DOI：
10.1021/acs.langmuir.0c01345
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发表时间：
2020-09-01
期刊：
影响因子：
3.9
通讯作者：
Sarkar, Anwesha
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Dan, Abhijit;Aery, Shikha;Sarkar, Anwesha
在此，我们报告了一种新的方法，涉及皮克林稳定的微米大小的液晶（LC）液滴与生物相容性软材料，如乳清蛋白微凝胶（WPM），以促进分析物诱导的构型转变的LC液滴的分析。WPM颗粒能够在LC-水界面处不可逆地吸附，并且所得WPM稳定的LC液滴具有随时间推移的显著的抗聚结稳定性。虽然LC液滴成功地被WPM层的连续网络保护，但LC-水界面仍然可以被诸如十二烷基硫酸钠（SDS）的小分子接近，所述小分子可以扩散通过吸附的WPM网络的网格或通过界面孔并诱导LC响应。利用这种方法来研究WPM稳定的LC液滴对SDS响应的动态范围。然而，在水介质中的未吸附的WPM的存在下，减少了访问的SDS分子的LC液滴，从而抑制了配置转换。在洗掉未吸附的WPM后，实现了对具有较低检测限的SDS的改进的LC响应。有趣的是，LC表现出低至类似于0.85 mM的SDS的初始WPM浓度范围从0.005至0.1重量%内的检测限。此外，我们表明，剂量响应行为的强烈影响的液滴暴露于水性分析物的数量和表面活性剂的类型，如阴离子SDS，阳离子十二烷基三甲基溴化铵（DTAB），和非离子四（乙二醇）单十二烷基醚（C12 E4）。因此，我们的研究结果解决了与水相分析物的定量相关的关键问题，并提供了一个有前途的胶体平台，朝着发展新的类的生物相容性LC液滴为基础的光学传感器。
Herein, we report a novel approach that involves Pickering stabilization of micometer-sized liquid crystal (LC) droplets with biocompatible soft materials such as a whey protein microgel (WPM) to facilitate the analysis of analyte-induced configurational transition of the LC droplets. The WPM particles were able to irreversibly adsorb at the LC-water interface, and the resulting WPM-stabilized LC droplets possessed a remarkable stability against coalescence over time. Although the LC droplets were successfully protected by a continuous network of the WPM layer, the LC-water interface was still accessible for small molecules such as sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) that could diffuse through the meshes of the adsorbed WPM network or through the interfacial pores and induce an LC response. This approach was exploited to investigate the dynamic range of the WPM-stabilized LC droplet response to SDS. Nevertheless, the presence of the unadsorbed WPM in the aqueous medium reduced the access of SDS molecules to the LC droplets, thus suppressing the configuration transition. An improved LC response to SDS with a lower detection limit was achieved after washing off the unadsorbed WPM. Interestingly, the LC exhibited a detection limit as low as similar to 0.85 mM for SDS within the initial WPM concentration ranging from 0.005 to 0.1 wt %. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the dose-response behavior was strongly influenced by the number of droplets exposed to the aqueous analytes and the type of surfactants such as anionic SDS, cationic dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB), and nonionic tetra(ethylene glycol)monododecyl ether (C12E4). Thus, our results address key issues associated with the quantification of aqueous analytes and provide a promising colloidal platform toward the development of new classes of biocompatible LC droplet-based optical sensors.