Serendipitously, mono‐allyloxylated cucurbit[7]uril (AO1CB[7]) was discovered to act as an unconventional amphiphile which self‐assembles into light‐responsive vesicles (AO1CB[7]VC) in water. Although the mono‐allyloxy group, directly tethered on the periphery of CB[7], is much shorter (C4) than the hydrophobic tails of conventional amphiphiles, it played an important role in vesicle formation. Light‐activated transformation of the allyloxy group by conjugation with glutathione was exploited as a remote tool to disrupt the vesicle. The vesicle showed on‐demand release of cargo upon irradiation by a laser, after they were internalized into cancer cells. This result demonstrated the potential of AO1CB[7]VC as a new type of light‐responsive intracellular delivery vehicle for the release of therapeutic cargo, within cells, on demand.
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Park et al. (2018) studied this question.
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