Multi-responsive cyclodextrin vesicles assembled by ‘supramolecular bola-amphiphiles’

Multi-responsive cyclodextrin vesicles (CDVs) self-assembled by ‘supramolecular bola-amphiphiles’, consisting of a guest (N,N′-bis(ferrocenylmethylene)-diaminohexane, 1) and a host (γ-hydroxybutyric-β-cyclodextrin, γ-HB-β-CD), were prepared and investigated for the first time. The morphologies and sizes of these novel vesicles in water were observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering. The effects of the host–guest ratio, the concentration and the solvent composition are also discussed. The host–guest interactions, complex stoichiometry and structures of 1·γ-HB-β-CD in water were investigated by cyclic voltammetry, UV and NMR spectroscopy. According to the complex stoichiometry, TEM observations and Chem3D estimation, the ‘supramolecular bola-amphiphiles’, made from 1·γ-HB-β-CD and assumed for the first time, formed the membranes of the CDVs. The CDV system was responsive to an oxidising agent, which is the first report on redox-responsive s...