Fig. 2: Physical autocatalysis in water-in-oil emulsion.
a Schematic showing the autocatalytic fibre-forming reaction in aqueous droplets. Dormant PC8 precursor loaded into the microdroplets reacts with T8 added to the external oil phase, thus triggering PC8T8 production and fibrillation, ultimately generating cortical microfibrillar bundles at droplet interfaces. Note all droplets in this manuscript contain the surfactant Span 80. b Time-dependent ThT emission in the presence of the confined reaction between PC8 and T8 doped with their product PC8T8 (1–5% mol, dark greens), no doping (light green) and negative reaction control without T8 (white). Octanal (T8) is added to the samples after 100 s (arrow). c Plots showing the competition between PC8 (green) and PC2 (black) in droplets; data collected by HPLC (222 nm); n = 3 (mean ± SD). d, e Fluorescence micrographs showing diffusion-dependent reaction after addition of T8. The syringe indicates the point of addition of T8. Scale bars = 200 µm (d) and 50 µm (e). f Intensity profiles of droplets shown in e.
