**1.1 Current scenario**

In general, as described, formation of supramolecular structures are mediated through individually or in combination of heating, cooling, hydration, solvent addition, refluxing, agitation, stirring, shaking and/or hydrothermal reaction. Further, the size, structure and reproducibility of supramolecular structures depend on the methods followed and the substrates employed in the study.

With regard to substrates, most of the researchers synthesized supramolecular structures using the following synthetic molecules; viz., Poly ethylene amine, 2,4,diaminopyrimidinenitrobenzoate (Stanley et al., 2005), pyrrole-2-carboxylate dimer (Yin et al., 2006 ), Trichloromethane (Durov et al., 2006), polyoxovanadate (Duan et al., 2006), Cyclodextrin (zeng-guo & Sanping, 2003), Nitrobenzoic acid with ethylenediamine (Srinivasan & Rane, 2009), p-tert-butylcalix[6]arene, ammonium cations, 1-alkynlyl(phenyl) tetrafluroborate-

Generally, supramolecular solid structures are commonly prepared by different templates; polymers, polystyrene, silica and some other metal nanoparticles. Vesicles and microemulsions are used as template to develop on an attractive and stable supramolecular structure. However, in the soft template approach, the control on the size and mechanical stability of the supramolecular structures could become a problem. Further, as pointed out by Shelnutt and his co-workers, it is not easy to prepare stable or large sized (e.g., > 100 nm in diameter) and thickly walled supramolecular spheres based on the soft template approach. Therefore, a new protocol using biological materials through which the rigid structure with controllable size and thickness can be made easily is of great interesting. Amphiphilic and/or non-polar components further increase the structural diversity to include sponge and microemulsion phases, and even stable multiphase colloidal dispersions of one complex fluid in another – cubosomes and hexosomes. Many aspects of these nanostructures remain under exploited because self-assembled structures exist in dynamic equilibrium, and hence respond to changes in solution conditions. A great deal could potentially be achieved if amphiphilic self-assemblies could be rendered more robust *in situ.* One method for achieving this is to "lock-in" the self-assembled structure using

Simple, single-chain fatty acids have long been known to self-assemble into supramolecular structures such as micelles and vesicles (Gebicki & Hicks, 1973; Gebicki & Hicks, 1976). Fatty acids in a bilayer membrane are in rapid exchange with the aqueous environment (Walde et al., 1994). Such amphiphiles can also interact with solid surfaces. The interaction of amphiphiles with solid surfaces often involves adsorption due to chemical or physicochemical forces through covalent bonds, hydrogen bonds, ion exchange, Van der Waals

The interactions of simple, single-chain amphiphiles with many different surfaces results in the organization of membranes and the formation of vesicles. This effect could have played a key role in the organization and formation of the first cell-like structures on the early earth. Since mineral particles have been implicated in very early chemistries and polymerization reactions (Bernal, 1951; Wachtershauser, 1988; Ferris and Hill et al., 1996; Sowerby et al., 2001; Sowerby et al., 2002; Monnard, 2005), it is intriguing that minerals might have also been involved in the formation of yet another essential component of lifethe cellular membrane. Mineral-mediated vesicle formation occurs with many disparate types of minerals and is therefore a more general property than clay-catalyzed RNA

In general, as described, formation of supramolecular structures are mediated through individually or in combination of heating, cooling, hydration, solvent addition, refluxing, agitation, stirring, shaking and/or hydrothermal reaction. Further, the size, structure and reproducibility of supramolecular structures depend on the methods followed and the

With regard to substrates, most of the researchers synthesized supramolecular structures using the following synthetic molecules; viz., Poly ethylene amine, 2,4,diaminopyrimidinenitrobenzoate (Stanley et al., 2005), pyrrole-2-carboxylate dimer (Yin et al., 2006 ), Trichloromethane (Durov et al., 2006), polyoxovanadate (Duan et al., 2006), Cyclodextrin (zeng-guo & Sanping, 2003), Nitrobenzoic acid with ethylenediamine (Srinivasan & Rane, 2009), p-tert-butylcalix[6]arene, ammonium cations, 1-alkynlyl(phenyl) tetrafluroborate-

polymerizable surfactants.

polymerization.

**1.1 Current scenario** 

substrates employed in the study.

forces, and hydrophobic effects (Giles, 1982; Evans, 1986).

iodanes, 18 crown-6 (Ochiai et al., 2003) and etc. Similarly, semisynthetic or the combinational substrates such as galactocerebroside containing long chain unsaturated fatty acids, tris(hydroxylmethyl)- aminomethane based biosurfactant, hyperbranched polyethelenimine and fatty acids, glycolipid derivative with hydrogenated fluorinated mixed lipid tail, synthetic spingolipids, block copolymers and etc., are also in use.

In addition, a complete bio-based supramolecular structures from milk fat protein, lipids, DNA, RNA complex, nucleotides, aminoacids or doublechain aminoacids, phospholipids, glycolipids, peptides, gluconamides, bolamphiphilies, lipopeptide and biological amphiphilies compounds are also introduced by various researchers.
