Lipid Vesicles and Other Polymolecular Aggregates—From Basic Studies of Polar Lipids to Innovative Applications

Lipid vesicles (liposomes) are a unique and fascinating type of polymolecular aggregates, obtained from bilayer-forming amphiphiles—or mixtures of amphiphiles—in an aqueous medium. Unilamellar vesicles consist of one single self-closed bilayer membrane, constituted by the amphiphiles and an internal volume which is trapped by this bilayer, whereby the vesicle often is spherical with a typical desired average diameter of either about 100 nm or...