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  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Mertens, Monique
A1  - Hilsch, Malte
A1  - Haralampiev, Ivan
A1  - Volkmer, Rudolf
A1  - Wessig, Pablo
A1  - Müller, Peter
T1  - Synthesis and characterization of a new Bifunctionalized, Fluorescent, and Amphiphilic molecule for recruiting SH-Containing molecules to membranes
JF  - ChemBioChem
N2  - This study describes the synthesis and characterization of an amphiphilic construct intended to recruit SH-containing molecules to membranes. The construct consists of 1)an aliphatic chain to enable anchoring within membranes, 2)a maleimide moiety to react with the sulfhydryl group of a soluble (bio)molecule, and 3)a fluorescence moiety to allow the construct to be followed by fluorescence spectroscopy and microscopy. It is shown that the construct can be incorporated into preformed membranes, thus allowing application of the approach with biological membranes. The close proximity between the fluorophore and the maleimide moiety within the construct causes fluorescence quenching. This allows monitoring of the reaction with SH-containing molecules by measurement of increases in fluorescence intensity and lifetime. Notably, the construct distributes into laterally ordered membrane domains of lipid vesicles, which is probably triggered by the length of its membrane anchor. The advantages of the new construct can be employed for several biological, biotechnological, and medicinal applications.
KW  - DBD dyes
KW  - fatty acids
KW  - liposomes
KW  - maleimide
KW  - membranes
KW  - palmitoylation
Y1  - 2018
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1002/cbic.201800268
SN  - 1439-4227
SN  - 1439-7633
VL  - 19
IS  - 15
SP  - 1643
EP  - 1647
PB  - Wiley-VCH
CY  - Weinheim
ER  -