Self-assembled reversed bilayers directed by pnictogen bonding to form vesicles in solution

Abstract

Artificial vesicles can aid in the study and understanding of biological cell membranes. This study employs pnictogen bonding to actively direct the self-assembly of a true reversed bilayer. Antimony(III) alkoxide cages that self-assemble through multiple strong Sb⋯O interactions propagate in two dimensions to form a reverse bilayer structure in the solid state. Long alkyl tails allow these reverse bilayers to be processed into vesicles in solution that are a reverse of biological cell membranes.