Speaker
Sarah Maurer
(CCSU, US)
Description
Prebiotic amphiphiles, like decanol and decanoic acid, are well-known to self-assemble into membranes and are proposed as precursors to lipid membranes for the origins of life. Their formation conditions rely heavily on the composition of amphiphiles and the environmental parameters of temperature, pH, ionic strength, solute composition. This talk will focus on the synthesis of these amphiphiles, their membrane formation conditions, and their function with respect to photochemistry.