Dr. Pierre Bauduin, Dr. Sylvain Prevost, Dr. Pau Farràs, Prof. Francesc Teixidor, Dr. Olivier Diat, Prof. Thomas Zemb. First published: 3 May 2011. Angewandte Chemie International Edition Volume 50, Issue 23, pages 5298–5300, May 27, 2011. DOI: 10.1002/anie.201102614
The cobaltabisdicarbollide (mono-)anion ([3,3′-Co(1,2-C2B9H11)2]−, COSAN−) forms monolayer vesicles at low concentrations in water (see picture). An increase in concentration leads to a Coulomb explosion of the closely packed vesicles into small micelles, which results in the coexistence of both aggregation states at higher concentrations.