Morphological Studies of Bulk Heterojunction Films Made of Polymers Showing Stable Photovoltaic Properties

Synopsis

Lipid Nanoparticles (LNPs) are an attractive way of delivering of short interfering RNA (siRNA) for cancer therapeutics. Their release method relies on protonation the ionisable amino-lipid XTC2 in acidic endosomes. Hypothetically, the protonated XTC2 and anionic lipids in endosomal membranes interact to form non-lamellar phases, releasing the siRNA. In this project a model release system consisting of XTC2 and anionic distearoyl-phosphatidylserine (DSPS-d70) at pH 4.7 was investigated with deuterium nuclear magnetic resonance (²H NMR) and small angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) to determine the lipid phases which form as a function of temperature and their structural parameters. Since cholesterol is an important structural component in LNPs, increasing amounts of cholesterol were added to the system to determine its effect. Non-lamellar phases were observed for each sample particularly at high temperatures, though interestingly the specific phase observed by each technique was not always in complete agreement.

Keywords: Lipid Nanoparticles; Phosphatidylserine; Cholesterol; Small Angle X-Ray Scattering; Deuterium Nuclear Magnetic Resonance