Trimeb

2-HP-α-CD, 2-HP-β-CD, 2-HP-γ-CD, DIMEB and TRIMEB CDs were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (Milan, Italy) and used without further purification. The same commercial source was adopted for D₂O and LiClO₄ (99.99% trace metals basis). 4-Thio(2’-deoxy)thymidine (S⁴TdR), having 99+% purity was purchased from Carbosynth (Compton, Berkshire, UK). S⁴TdR and CDs stock solutions (at concentrations of 10⁻² M and 5 × 10⁻² M, respectively) were prepared in doubly distilled water or, in D₂O for ¹H NMR analysis and in the presence of LiClO₄ (0.1 M) for CV experiments. The solutions were stored at 4 °C.

All lipids were purchased from Avanti Polar Lipids (Alabaster, AL) as powders and used without further purification. Lipids used include POPC (catalogue number 850457); 18:1 Rh-PE(catalogue number 810150); 18:1 NBD-PE (catalogue number 810145); 18:1 Cy5-PE (catalogue number 810335); 16:0 Biotinyl Cap PE (catalogue number 870277). Lipid mixtures were prepared by co-dissolving the required molar ratios of lipids in chloroform. BSA (≥99% assay, catalogue number A4161), α-HL (catalogue number H9395, 10,000 units mg⁻¹ protein), calcein (catalogue number C0875), TRIMEB (98% purity; catalogue number H4645) and all buffer reagents were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (Gillingham, UK). Fluo-4 (pentapotassium salt; 99% purity; catalogue number F14200) was purchased from Thermo Fisher Scientific (Loughborough, UK). A summary of materials and conditions used in the individual experiments are given in Supplementary Table 3.