Two novel two-tail surfactants, dicetyldimethylammonium 4-vinyl benzoate (DDVB) and dicetyldimethylammonium 3,5-divinyl benzoate (DDDB), were synthesized by neutralizing the corresponding quaternary ammonium hydroxide with the appropriate benzoic acid. As expected, these surfactants formed both homo and mixed-vesicles, which were readily polymerized with a suitable radical photo-initiator. The polymerization process was followed by UV-vis spectroscopy and also reconfirmed by NMR and IR spectroscopy. Polymerization of vesicles prepared from DDVB, unlike the more commonly polymerized vesicles, in which the polymerizable group forms an integral part of the surfactant, leads to the formation of a linear polyelectrolyte chain that is only electrostatically bound to the lipid bilayer. On the other hand, polymerization of DDDB vesicles leads to the formation of a crosslinked shell (or net) that encases the vesicle bilayer. Such counterion crosslinked vesicles were shown to be resistant to destabilization both by lysis as well as in the presence of a fairly high volume fraction of an organic solvent, such as ethanol. However, although the simple polymerized (linearly) vesicles, formed from DDVB, exhibit enhanced stability toward lysis when compared to their unpolymerized counterparts, they are readily destabilized in the presence of ethanol, leading to precipitation. This sharp contrast in the behavior of linearly polymerized and crosslinked systems suggests that crosslinking is essential to arrest conformational reorganization of the polyelectrolyte chains induced by a change in the solvent medium, which in turn leads to precipitation. Such counterion crosslinked vesicular systems also have an added advantage; they may retain the fluidity of the lipid bilayer while at the same time possess enhanced stability. (C) 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.