Superstructure Formation of a Synthetic Lipid Bearing a Poly(ethylene glycol) Head Group with α-Cyclodextrin

Abstract
Mixing of an aqueous bilayer of an artificial nonionic lipid bearing a poly(ethylene glycol) as the hydrophilic head group with α-cyclodextrin(α-CD) was found to produce a stable crystalline inclusion complex which possessed the fundamental bilayer characteristic (phase transition) for the first time. 1H-NMR spectra of the complex showed that 2.2 ± 0.1 ethylene glycol units in the lipid were captured in one α-CD molecule.