High temperature phase behaviour of a fatty acid/alcohol membrane
Our project studies a suitable model membrane for the first forms of life. This system is made of short, single chain fatty acids/alcohols, molecules that were readily available at the onset of life. It has been proven to form vesicles at ambient temperature in a wide range of pH and amphiphile/buffer concentrations. However, recent solid state NMR experiments show an unexpected high T transition which is only triggered by the fatty alcohol presence. SANS measurements on D16 were performed on identical samples and conditions to better identify the high T new phase, but only the unbinding transition (leading to unilamellar vesicles) was observed. We propose to perform SANS experiments on D33 in order to 1) access a lower range of scattering vector to detect changes in the vesicle shape/size/dispersity; 2) explore the effect of the high magnetic field, experienced by the samples during the NMR measurements, that may have a role on the new phase appearance/characteristics. The results will be of high value as they concern the extreme temperature conditions that constituted the Earth environment when life appeared.
The data is currently only available to download if you are a member of the proposal team.
The recommended format for citing this dataset in a research publication is in the following format:
MISURACA Loreto; CUBITT Robert; DEME Bruno; GRILLO Isabelle; LORICCO Josephine; Phil Oger and PETERS Judith. (2020). High temperature phase behaviour of a fatty acid/alcohol membrane. Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) doi:10.5291/ILL-DATA.9-13-905
This data is not yet public
This data is not yet public
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