Rapid Spontaneous Assembly of Single Component Liposomes

Abstract

We present a mechanism and show two variants of a method where the average diameter of spontaneously (barrier-free) assembled single component unilamellar liposomes is intrinsic, in agreement with Helfrich's theory. It depends only on the temperature and the lipid type, eliminating kinetic effects or external forcing normally observed. This provides the first pure system to study the self-assembly of vesicle forming components, and with a natural length scale it may have an implication for vesicle size selection under pre-biotic conditions.