On the stability of lithocholate derivative supramolecular tubules

The self-assembly of a mannose-labelled bile salt derivative gives rise to a metastable nematic phase of monodisperse nanotubes in aqueous solutions that are characterized by a crystalline order. This work is addressed to study the relative stability of these tubular aggregates in order to have full control of such a system for possible applications. By using a static light scattering method we evaluate both the solubilities of the metastable nanotubes and of stable nanocrystals, demonstrating that these are remarkably lower than the critical micellar concentration of typical bile salts and other ionic conventional surfactants. A partial stability map is developed by combining solubility and calorimetry data, where a nematic nanotube phase region is highlighted below 60-65 °C.