TY - JOUR A1 - Hornemann, Andrea A1 - Eichert, Diane Madeleine A1 - Hoehl, Arne A1 - Tiersch, Brigitte A1 - Ulm, Gerhard A1 - Ryadnov, Maxim G. A1 - Beckhoff, Burkhard T1 - Investigating Membrane-Mediated Antimicrobial Peptide Interactions with Synchrotron Radiation Far-Infrared Spectroscopy JF - ChemPhysChem : a European journal of chemical physics and physical chemistry N2 - Synchrotron radiation-based Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy enables access to vibrational information from mid over far infrared to even terahertz domains. This information may prove critical for the elucidation of fundamental bio-molecular phenomena including folding-mediated innate host defence mechanisms. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) represent one of such phenomena. These are major effector molecules of the innate immune system, which favour attack on microbial membranes. AMPs recognise and bind to the membranes whereupon they assemble into pores or channels destabilising the membranes leading to cell death. However, specific molecular interactions responsible for antimicrobial activities have yet to be fully understood. Herein we probe such interactions by assessing molecular specific variations in the near-THz 400-40 cm(-1) range for defined helical AMP templates in reconstituted phospholipid membranes. In particular, we show that a temperature-dependent spectroscopic analysis, supported by 2D correlative tools, provides direct evidence for the membrane-induced and folding-mediated activity of AMPs. The far-FTIR study offers a direct and information-rich probe of membrane-related antimicrobial interactions. KW - antimicrobial peptides KW - electrostatic interactions KW - IR spectroscopy KW - phospholipid membranes KW - protein folding Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/cphc.202100815 SN - 1439-4235 SN - 1439-7641 VL - 23 IS - 4 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bourgat, Yannick A1 - Tiersch, Brigitte A1 - Koetz, Joachim A1 - Menzel, Henning T1 - Enzyme degradable polymersomes from chitosan-g-[poly-l-lysine-block-epsilon-caprolactone] copolymer JF - Macromolecular bioscience N2 - The scope of this study includes the synthesis of chitosan-g-[peptide-poly-epsilon-caprolactone] and its self-assembly into polymeric vesicles employing the solvent shift method. In this way, well-defined core-shell structures suitable for encapsulation of drugs are generated. The hydrophobic polycaprolactone side-chain and the hydrophilic chitosan backbone are linked via an enzyme-cleavable peptide. The synthetic route involves the functionalization of chitosan with maleimide groups and the preparation of polycaprolactone with alkyne end-groups. A peptide functionalized with a thiol group on one side and an azide group on the other side is prepared. Thiol-ene click-chemistry and azide-alkyne Huisgen cycloaddition are then used to link the chitosan and poly-epsilon-caprolactone chains, respectively, with this peptide. For a preliminary study, poly-l-lysin is a readily available and cleavable peptide that is introduced to investigate the feasibility of the system. The size and shape of the polymersomes are studied by dynamic light scattering and cryo-scanning electron microscopy. Furthermore, degradability is studied by incubating the polymersomes with two enzymes, trypsin and chitosanase. A dispersion of polymersomes is used to coat titanium plates and to further test the stability against enzymatic degradation. KW - chitosan KW - click chemistry KW - drug delivery system KW - enzyme KW - polymersomes KW - poly‐ ε ‐ caprolactone Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/mabi.202000259 SN - 1616-5187 SN - 1616-5195 VL - 21 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Großkopf, Sören A1 - Tiersch, Brigitte A1 - Koetz, Joachim A1 - Mix, Andreas A1 - Hellweg, Thomas T1 - Shear-Induced Transformation of Polymer-Rich Lamellar Phases to Micron-Sized Vesicles JF - Langmuir N2 - In the present work, we study the shear-induced transformation of polymer-rich lamellar phases into vesicles. The evolution of vesicle size is studied by different scattering techniques, rheology, and microscopy methods. The lamellar phase found in the system D2O/o-xylene/Pluronic PE9400/C(8)TAB can be fully transformed to multilamellar vesicles (MLVs) by applying shear. The size of the MLVs is proportional to the inverse square root of the shear rate. Hence, the polymer based quaternary system behaves similar to lamellar phases based on small surfactant molecules. Additionally, we found a growth effect leading to a size increase of the vesicles after shearing was stopped. Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.8602786 SN - 0743-7463 VL - 35 IS - 8 SP - 3048 EP - 3057 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Preller, Tobias A1 - Runge-Borchert, Gundula A1 - Zellmer, Sabrina A1 - Menzel, Dirk A1 - Saein, Saeid Azimi A1 - Peters, Jan A1 - Raatz, Annika A1 - Tiersch, Brigitte A1 - Koetz, Joachim A1 - Garnweitner, Georg T1 - Particle-reinforced and functionalized hydrogels for SpineMan, a soft robotics application JF - Journal of materials science N2 - SpineMan is designed as a prototype of a soft robotic manipulator that is constructed of alternating hard and soft segments similar to the human spine. Implementing such soft segments allows to surpass the rigidity of conventional robots and ensures safer workspaces where humans and machines can work side by side with less stringent safety restrictions. Therefore, we used a hydrogel as viscoelastic material consisting of poly(vinyl alcohol) and borax. The mechanical properties of the hydrogel were tailored by embedding silica particles of various particles sizes as well as in different mass fractions. Increased mass contents as well as larger particle sizes led to strongly enhanced rigidity with a more than doubled storage modulus of the composite compared to the pure hydrogel. Furthermore, specific functionalities were induced by the incorporation of superparamagnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles that can in principle be used for sensing robotic motion and detecting malfunctions. Therefore, we precisely adjusted the saturation magnetization of the soft segments using defined mass contents of the nanoparticles. To ensure long-time shape stability and prevention of atmospheric influences on the prepared composites, a silicone skin of specific shore hardness was used. The composites and the soft segments were characterized by oscillation measurements, cryo-SEM, bending tests and SQUID measurements, which give insights into the properties in the passive and in the moving state of SpineMan. The utilization of tailored composites led to highly flexible, reinforced and functional soft segments, which ensure stability, easy movability by springs of the shape memory alloy nitinol and prevention of total failure. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-018-3106-6 SN - 0022-2461 SN - 1573-4803 VL - 54 IS - 5 SP - 4444 EP - 4456 PB - Springer CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Secker, Christian A1 - Voelkel, Antje A1 - Tiersch, Brigitte A1 - Koetz, Joachim A1 - Schlaad, Helmut T1 - Thermo-Induced Aggregation and Crystallization of Block Copolypeptoids in Water JF - Macromolecules : a publication of the American Chemical Society N2 - Block copolypeptoids comprising a thermosensitive, crystallizable poly(N-(n-propyl)glycine) block and a watersoluble poly(N-methylglycine) block, P70My (y = 23, 42, 76, 153, and 290), were synthesized bY ring-opening polymerization of the corresponding N-alkylglycine N-carboxyanhydrides (NCAs) and examined according to their thermo-induced aggregation and crystallization in water by turbidimetty, micro-differential scanning calorimetry (micro-DSC); cryogenic scanning electron microscopy (cryo-SEM), analytical ultracentrifugation (AUC), and static light scattering (SLS). At a temperature above the cloud point temperature, the initially formed micellar aggregates started to crystallize and grow into larger complex assemblies of about 100-500 nm, exhibiting flower-like (P70M23), ellipsoidal (P70M42 and P70M72) or irregular shapes (P70M153 and.P70M290). Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.macromol.5b02481 SN - 0024-9297 SN - 1520-5835 VL - 49 SP - 979 EP - 985 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Couturier, Jean-Philippe A1 - Wischerhoff, Erik A1 - Bernin, Robert A1 - Hettrich, Cornelia A1 - Koetz, Joachim A1 - Sutterlin, Martin A1 - Tiersch, Brigitte A1 - Laschewsky, Andre T1 - Thermoresponsive Polymers and Inverse Opal Hydrogels for the Detection of Diols JF - Langmuir N2 - Responsive inverse opal hydrogels functionalized by boroxole moieties were synthesized and explored as sensor platforms for various low molar mass as well as polymeric diols and polyols, including saccharides, glycopolymers and catechols, by exploiting the diol induced modulation of their structural color. The underlying thermoresponsive water-soluble copolymers and hydrogels exhibit a coil-to-globule or volume phase transition, respectively, of the LCST-type. They were prepared from oligoethylene oxide methacrylate (macro)monomers and functionalized via copolymerization to bear benzoboroxole moieties. The resulting copolymers represent weak polyacids, which can bind specifically to diols within an appropriate pH window. Due to the resulting modulation of the overall hydrophilicity of the systems and the consequent shift of their phase transition temperature, the usefulness of such systems for indicating the presence of catechols, saccharides, and glycopolymers was studied, exploiting the diol/polyol induced shifts of the soluble polymers’ cloud point, or the induced changes of the hydrogels’ swelling. In particular, the increased acidity of benzoboroxoles compared to standard phenylboronic acids allowed performing the studies in PBS buffer (phosphate buffered saline) at the physiologically relevant pH of 7.4. The inverse opals constructed of these thermo- and analyte-responsive hydrogels enabled following the binding of specific diols by the induced shift of the optical stop band. Their highly porous structure enabled the facile and specific optical detection of not only low molar mass but also of high molar mass diol/polyol analytes such as glycopolymers. Accordingly, such thermoresponsive inverse opal systems functionalized with recognition units represent attractive and promising platforms for the facile sensing of even rather big analytes by simple optical means, or even by the bare eye. Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.6b00803 SN - 0743-7463 VL - 32 SP - 4333 EP - 4345 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vargas-Ruiz, Salome A1 - Schulreich, Christoph A1 - Kostevic, Angelika A1 - Tiersch, Brigitte A1 - Koetz, Joachim A1 - Kakorin, Sergej A1 - von Klitzing, Regine A1 - Jung, Martin A1 - Hellweg, Thomas A1 - Wellert, Stefan T1 - Extraction of model contaminants from solid surfaces by environmentally compatible microemulsions JF - Journal of colloid and interface science N2 - In the present contribution, we evaluate the efficiency of eco-friendly microemulsions to decontaminate solid surfaces by monitoring the extraction of non-toxic simulants of sulfur mustard out of model surfaces. The extraction process of the non-toxic simulants has been monitored by means of spectroscopic and chromatographic techniques. The kinetics of the removal process was analyzed by different empirical models. Based on the analysis of the kinetics, we can assess the influence of the amounts of oil and water and the microemulsion structure on the extraction process. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. KW - Microemulsions KW - Decontamination KW - Surface removal KW - Kinetic analysis KW - Extraction Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2016.03.006 SN - 0021-9797 SN - 1095-7103 VL - 471 SP - 118 EP - 126 PB - Elsevier CY - San Diego ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Perez-Anes, Alexandra A1 - Rodrigues, Fernanda A1 - Caminade, Anne-Marie A1 - Stefaniu, Cristina A1 - Tiersch, Brigitte A1 - Turrin, Cedric-Olivier A1 - Blanzat, Muriel T1 - Influence of structural parameters on the self-association properties of anti-HIV catanionic dendrimers JF - ChemPhysChem : a European journal of chemical physics and physical chemistry N2 - The self-association properties of anti-HIV catanionic dendrimers as multivalent galactosylceramide (GalCer)-derived inhibitors are presented. The study was designed to elucidate the origin of the relatively high cytotoxicity values of these antiHIV catanionic dendrimers, which have previously been found to exhibit in vitro anti-HIV activity in the submicromolar range. The physicochemical properties of these catanionic dendrimers were studied to tentatively correlate the structural parameters with self-association and biological properties. We can conclude from this study that the absence of correlation between the hydrophobicity and the cytotoxicity of the catanionic systems could be explained by the partial segregation of the different partners of the catanionic entities. KW - anti-HIV KW - catanionic surfactants KW - dendrimers KW - galactosylceramide KW - glycolipids Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/cphc.201500484 SN - 1439-4235 SN - 1439-7641 VL - 16 IS - 16 SP - 3433 EP - 3437 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schulze, Nicole A1 - Appelhans, D. A1 - Tiersch, Brigitte A1 - Koetz, Joachim T1 - Morphological transformation of vesicles into tubular structures by adding polyampholytes or dendritic glycopolymers JF - Colloids and surfaces : an international journal devoted to the principles and applications of colloid and interface science ; A, Physicochemical and engineering aspects N2 - For the first time tubulating properties of spherical dendritic glycopolymers and linear alternating polyampholytes against non-uniform negatively charged giant vesicles are proven by light microscopy and cryo-scanning electron microscopy study. Real time observation of the morphological transformation from giant vesicles to tubular structures, simulating morphogenesis in living cells, is given by using the cationic and H-bond active dendritic glycopolymer accompanied by reducing the size of the giant vesicles and the evidence of vesicle-vesicle interaction which was only postulated in a previous study. Similar morphogenesis of non-uniform giant vesicles into tubular network structure can be observed by using a polyampholyte in the stretched conformation at pH 9. Pearl necklace and tubular network structure formation are also observed by applying anionic vesicles of significant smaller dimensions with average size dimensions of 35 nm, after adding the polyampholyte at pH 9. However, the fitting accuracy between the functional groups along the backbone chain of the polyampholyte on one side and the vesicle surface on the other side is of high importance for the transformation process by using polyampholytes. The resulting tubular and network structures offer new fields of application as microfluidic transport channels or template phases for the shape controlled formation of nanoparticles. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. KW - Alternating polyampholytes KW - Maltose-modified PEI KW - Network structure KW - Template phase KW - Cryo-SEM KW - DLS Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfa.2014.06.007 SN - 0927-7757 SN - 1873-4359 VL - 457 SP - 326 EP - 332 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bressel, Katharina A1 - Prevost, Sylvain A1 - Appavou, Marie-Sousai A1 - Tiersch, Brigitte A1 - Koetz, Joachim A1 - Gradzielski, Michael T1 - Phase behaviour and structure of zwitanionic mixtures of perfluorocarboxylates and tetradecyldimethylamine oxide-dependence on chain length of the perfluoro surfactant JF - Soft matter N2 - Phase behaviour and the mesoscopic structure of zwitanionic surfactant mixtures based on the zwitterionic tetradecyldimethylamine oxide (TDMAO) and anionic lithium perfluoroalkyl carboxylates have been investigated for various chain lengths of the perfluoro surfactant with an emphasis on spontaneously forming vesicles. These mixtures were studied at a constant total concentration of 50 mM and characterised by means of dynamic light scattering (DLS), electric conductivity, small-angle neutron scattering (SANS), viscosity, and cryo-scanning electron microscopy (Cryo-SEM). No vesicles are formed for relatively short perfluoro surfactants. The extension of the vesicle phase becomes substantially larger with increasing chain length of the perfluoro surfactant, while at the same time the size of these vesicles increases. Head group interactions in these systems play a central role in the ability to form vesicles, as already protonating 10 mol% of the TDMAO largely enhances the propensity for vesicle formation. The range of vesicle formation in the phase diagram is not only substantially enlarged but also extends to shorter perfluoro surfactants, where without protonation no vesicles would be formed. The size and polydispersity of the vesicles are related to the chain length of the perfluoro surfactant, the vesicles becoming smaller and more monodisperse with increasing perfluoro surfactant chain length. The ability of the mixed systems to form well-defined unilamellar vesicles accordingly can be controlled by the length of the alkyl chain of the perfluorinated surfactant and depends strongly on the charge conditions, which can be tuned easily by pH-variation. Y1 - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c1sm05618b SN - 1744-683X VL - 7 IS - 23 SP - 11232 EP - 11242 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER -