Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
9837886 | Physica B: Condensed Matter | 2005 | 6 Pages |
Abstract
We have studied the structure and phase transition characteristics of the fullerenes (C60)-embedded lipid bilayers. With small-angle neutron scattering (SANS), we have observed a degradation of bilayer ordering and a suppression effect on the phase transitions of the host vesicle bilayers of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC), due to the embedment of fullerenes. The fullerene-embedded lipid system with substrate-oriented bilayers is also investigated using X-ray reflectivity and grazing incident small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS). In the depth direction, the multilamellar peaks observed in the X-ray reflectivity profile for the oriented DPPC/C60 bilayers reveal a larger head-to-head distance DHH of 50.6Â Ã
and a bilayer spacing D of 59.8Â Ã
, compared to the DHH=47.7Â Ã
and D=59.5Â Ã
for a pure DPPC membrane measured at the same conditions. Furthermore, the lipid head layers and water layers in the extracted electron density profile for the complex system are highly smeared, implying a fluctuating or corrugated structure in this zone. Correspondingly, GISAXS for the oriented DPPC/C60 membrane reveals stronger diffuse scatterings along the membrane plane than that for the pure DPPC system, indicating a higher in-plane correlation associated with the embedded fullerenes.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Physics and Astronomy
Condensed Matter Physics
Authors
U-Ser Jeng, Chia-Hung Hsu, Tsang-Lang Lin, Ching-Mao Wu, Hsin-Lung Chen, Lin-Ai Tai, Kuo-Chu Hwang,