TY  - JOUR
A1  - Nikolaus, Jörg
A1  - Czapla, Sylvia
A1  - Möllnitz, Kristian
A1  - Höfer, Chris T.
A1  - Herrmann, Andreas
A1  - Wessig, Pablo
A1  - Müller, Peter
T1  - New molecular rods - Characterization of their interaction with membranes
JF  - Biochimica et biophysica acta : Biomembranes
N2  - Molecular rods are synthetical molecules consisting of a hydrophobic backbone which are functionalized with varying terminal groups. Here, we report on the interaction of a recently described new class of molecular rods with lipid and biological membranes. In order to characterize this interaction, different fluorescently labeled rods were synthesized allowing for the application of fluorescence spectroscopy and microscopy based approaches. Our data show that the rods are incorporated into membranes with a perpendicular orientation to the membrane surface and enrich preferentially in liquid-disordered lipid domains. These characteristics underline that rods can be applied as stable membrane-associated anchors for functionalizing membrane surfaces.
KW  - Molecular rod
KW  - Phospholipid
KW  - Lipid domain
KW  - Spiro compound
Y1  - 2011
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbamem.2011.08.008
SN  - 0005-2736
VL  - 1808
IS  - 12
SP  - 2781
EP  - 2788
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Amsterdam
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Müller, Peter
A1  - Nikolaus, Jörg
A1  - Schiller, Sabine
A1  - Herrmann, Andreas
A1  - Moellnitz, Kristian
A1  - Czapla, Sylvia
A1  - Wessig, Pablo
T1  - Molecular rods with oligospiroketal backbones as anchors in biological membranes
N2  - Getting stuck in: A hydrophobic molecular rod with terminal fluorescent moieties has been synthesized. The insertion of the rod into membranes was investigated and shown to incorporate efficiently into model and biological membranes (see picture; gray C, blue N, red O). Those rods can be used as stable membrane-associated anchors for functionalization of membrane surfaces.
Y1  - 2009
UR  - http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/jhome/26737/
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.200901133
SN  - 1433-7851
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Grimm, Christiane
A1  - Meyer, Thomas
A1  - Czapla, Sylvia
A1  - Nikolaus, Jörg
A1  - Scheidt, Holger A.
A1  - Vogel, Alexander
A1  - Herrmann, Andreas
A1  - Wessig, Pablo
A1  - Huster, Daniel
A1  - Müller, Peter
T1  - Structure and dynamics of molecular rods in membranes application of a Spin-Labeled rod
JF  - Chemistry - a European journal
N2  - Molecular rods consisting of a hydrophobic backbone and terminally varying functional groups have been synthesized for applications for the functionalization of membranes. In the present study, we employ a spin-labeled analogue of a recently described new class of molecular rods to characterize their dynamic interactions with membranes. By using the different approaches of ESR and NMR spectroscopy, we show that the spin moiety of the membrane-embedded spin-labeled rod is localized in the upper chain/glycerol region of membranes of different compositions. The rod is embedded within the membrane in a tilted orientation to adjust for the varying hydrophobic thicknesses of these bilayers. This orientation does not perturb the membrane structure. The water solubility of the rod is increased significantly in the presence of certain cyclodextrins. These cyclodextrins also allow the rods to be extracted from the membrane and incorporated into preformed membranes. The latter will improve the future applications of these rods in cellular systems as stable membrane-associated anchors for the functionalization of membrane surfaces.
KW  - hydrophobic mismatch
KW  - membranes
KW  - molecular rods
KW  - phospholipids
KW  - spiro compounds
Y1  - 2013
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.201202500
SN  - 0947-6539
VL  - 19
IS  - 8
SP  - 2703
EP  - 2710
PB  - Wiley-VCH
CY  - Weinheim
ER  -