Secondary assembly of bile salts mediated by β-cyclodextrin–terbium(III) complex Original Research Article

A fluorescent cyclodextrin–Tb(III) complex is successfully synthesized and can include bile salts in its hydrophobic cavities. Therefore, it can efficiently induce the secondary assembly of small bile salt primary micelles to large micelle aggregates, and the aggregation process can be easily observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and fluorescence microscopy.