The first stages of nanomicelle formation captured in the sevoflurane trimer

Abstract

Self-aggregation of sevoflurane, an inhalable, fluorinated anesthetic, provides a challenge for current state-of-the-art high-resolution techniques due to its large mass and the variety of possible hydrogen bonds between monomers. Here we present the observation of sevoflurane trimer by chirped-pulse Fourier transform microwave spectroscopy, identified through the interplay of experimental and computational methods. The trimer (>600 Da), one of the largest molecular aggregates observed through rotational spectroscopy, does not resemble the binding (C–H···O) motif of the already characterized sevoflurane dimer, instead adapting a new binding configuration created predominantly from 17 CH···F hydrogen bonds that resembles a nanomicellar arrangement. The observation of such a heavy aggregate highlights the potential of rotational spectroscopy to study larger biochemical systems in the limit of spectroscopic congestion but also showcases the challenges ahead as the mass of the system increases.