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. 1987 Sep;52(3):381–390. doi: 10.1016/S0006-3495(87)83226-5

Phospholipid monolayers between fluid and solid states.

C A Helm 1, H Möhwald 1, K Kjaer 1, J Als-Nielsen 1
PMCID: PMC1330002  PMID: 3651557

Abstract

Monolayers of the phospholipid dimyristoyl phosphatidic acid on the surface of water have been studied by a combination of the new techniques of synchrotron x-ray diffraction and fluorescence microscopy with classical surface pressure data. The pressure vs. area isotherm changes slope at the surface pressures pi c and pi s. The optical technique demonstrates that between pi c and pi s the fluid phase coexists with a denser "gel" phase. Electron diffraction data have shown that the gel phase has bond orientational order over tens of micrometers. However, the x-ray data demonstrate that positional correlations extend only over tens of angstroms. Thus, the gel phase is not crystalline. Above pi s a solid phase is formed with a positional correlation range that is eight times longer for the chemically purest films.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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