Temporal Emergence of Giant Vesicles Accompanied by Hydrolysis of Ammonium Amphiphiles with a Schiff-base Segment

An aqueous dispersion of the ammonium amphiphile with a Schiff-base segment exhibited the formation and decomposition of giant vesicles with diameters of several micrometers 2–4 h after the preparation. The time course trace of the morphological changes of the self-aggregates by means of light microscopy, electron microscopy and 1H NMR revealed that the temporal emergence of the giant vesicles was dependent on the progress of hydrolysis of the Schiff-base segment.