Papers by Jan B. F. N. Engberts
Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry, 2003
This perspective describes how kinetic studies of organic reactions can be used to increase our u... more This perspective describes how kinetic studies of organic reactions can be used to increase our understanding of hydrophobic interactions. In turn, our understanding of hydrophobic interactions can be used as a tool to influence chemical reactions.
Langmuir, 1996
The lyotropic phase behavior of (technical grade) dodecylbenzenesulfonates (DoBS) is strongly inf... more The lyotropic phase behavior of (technical grade) dodecylbenzenesulfonates (DoBS) is strongly influenced by the type of counterion and the relative amount of water. Phase diagrams are composed for the following systems: HDoBS/water, NaDoBS/water, (HDoBS + NaDoBS 1:1)/water, LiDoBS/water, KDoBS/water, CsDoBS/water, Ca(DoBS) 2/water, NaDoBS/water/NaCl, and NaDoBS/water/CsCl. The phases were characterized by light microscopy, freeze-fracture electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and macroscopic appearance. The phase diagrams all contain large areas of lamellar phases. The appearance of the lamellar phases differs along this series, in particular regarding swelling behavior, either with or without a micellar phase next to the lamellar phase, and formation of large, rather irregular lamellar units versus smaller, perfectly spherical lamellar topologies (so-called lamellar droplets). LiDoBS shows, in addition, a hexagonal phase between 25 and 50 wt %. Explanations for the occurrence of the different phases are given in molecular terms and in terms of interactions between bilayers and between aggregates.
The Journal of Organic Chemistry, 2002
Journal of colloid and interface …, 2001
The pH-dependent aggregation behavior of one representative of a recently described series of sug... more The pH-dependent aggregation behavior of one representative of a recently described series of sugar-amine gemini surfactants has been investigated. The surface tension (γ) and turbidity of hexane-1, 6-bis (hexadecyl-1′-deoxyglucitylamine) drop steeply between pH ...
European Biophysics Journal With Biophysics Letters, 2007
Non-viral vectors such as cationic lipids are capable of delivering nucleic acids, including gene... more Non-viral vectors such as cationic lipids are capable of delivering nucleic acids, including genes, siRNA or antisense RNA into cells, thus potentially resulting in their functional expression. These vectors are considered as an attractive alternative for virus-based delivery systems, which may suffer from immunological and mutational hazards. However, the efficiency of cationic-mediated gene delivery, although often sufficient for cell biological purposes, runs seriously short from a therapeutics point of view, as realizing this objective requires a higher level of transfection than attained thus far. To develop strategies for improvement, there is not so much a need for novel delivery systems. Rather, better insight is needed into the mechanism of delivery, including lipoplex–cell surface interaction, route of internalization and concomitant escape of DNA/RNA into the cytosol, and transport into the nucleus. Current work indicates that a major obstacle involves the relative inefficient destabilization of membrane-bounded compartments in which lipoplexes reside after their internalization by the cell. Such an activity requires the capacity of lipoplexes of undergoing polymorphic transitions such as a membrane destabilizing hexagonal phase, while cellular components may aid in this process. A consequence of the latter notion is that for development of a novel generation of delivery devices, entry pathways have to be triggered by specific targeting to select delivery into intracellular compartments which are most susceptible to lipoplex-induced destabilization, thereby allowing the most efficient release of DNA, a minimal requirement for optimizing non-viral vector-mediated transfection.
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Papers by Jan B. F. N. Engberts