Redox-responsive liposomes

ANYL 140

Robin L. McCarley, tunnel@lsu.edu1, Winston Ong, winston_ong@hotmail.com2, Nicole Hollabaugh, nholla1@lsu.edu2, Jerimiah C. Forsythe, jforsy2@lsu.edu2, and Maria Fabiana Mendoza, mmendo1@lsu.edu1. (1) Department of Chemistry, Lousiana State University, 232 Choppin Hall, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, (2) Department of Chemistry, Louisiana State University, 232 Choppin Hall, Baton Rouge, LA 70803
Reported here is the development of electron-transfer responsive liposome systems that release their contents upon reduction. To date, we have demonstrated that diphosphatidylethanolamine (PE) lipids possessing an electroactive N-quinone group can be formed into stable vesicles (liposomes). These quinone-PE liposomes are disrupted when the quinone functionality is reduced by 2 electrons per equivalent to cause an intramolecular cyclization/cleavage reaction of the reduced quinone. The rates of liposome opening are a function of quinone ring subsituents and composition of the liposome. These systems show great promise for reagent delivery in microanalysis devices, for they can be site-selective in their contents delivery, and rapid mixing/diffusion of the contents with their environment is achievable. A discussion of these electron-transfer responsive systems will be presented, including their synthesis and characterization, and their functionality as release agents.