Stiffening Effect of the [Bmim][Cl] Ionic Liquid on the Bending Dynamics of DMPC Lipid Vesicles

Published

July 8, 2021

Author(s)

Pallavi Kumari, Antonio Faraone, Elizabeth Kelley, Antonio Benedetto

Abstract

Cell membranes play a crucial role for life. They are involved, for example, in cell migration and recognition. Lipids, organized in a bilayer structure, are one of their major constituents. Alterations in the lipid-bilayer elasticity can lead to cell malfunction and has been observed in several pathological conditions. Complementarily, chemical-physical manipulations of the lipid-bilayer elasticity hold the promise of effective therapeutic and diagnostic approaches. Due to their proven strong-interaction with lipid-bilayers, ionic liquids (ILs) may play an important role. This work focuses on the effect of the imidazolium-IL [bmim][Cl] on the elasticity of model DMPC-lipid bilayers. Here, by combining small-angle neutron scattering and neutron spin-echo, we show that the IL, dispersed at the bilayer-water interface, (i) diffuses into the lipid region accounting for five IL-cations for every eleven lipids, and (ii) causes a temperature-dependent increase of the lipid-bilayer bending elasticity, up to 60% compared to the neat lipid-bilayer at 40 °C.

Citation

Journal of Physical Chemistry B

Volume

125

Issue

26

Pub Type

Journals

Keywords

ionic liquids, lipid-bilayer elasticity, cell membrane elasticity, neutron spin-echo, small angle neutron scattering

Citation

Kumari, P. , Faraone, A. , Kelley, E. and Benedetto, A. (2021), Stiffening Effect of the [Bmim][Cl] Ionic Liquid on the Bending Dynamics of DMPC Lipid Vesicles, Journal of Physical Chemistry B (Accessed October 10, 2025)