Confinement induced phase transitions in lipid bi-layers.
A recent ILL experiment showed the unique result that confinement can induce a liquid to gel phase transition in lipid bi-layers. However, the exact mechanism for this transition needs to be elucidated and to achieve this we need to study it in much greater detail. We propose to determine how much the transition temperature changes under different strengths of confinement for the lipids DPPC and DMPC. Key to this investigation is a unique and recently developed surface force style apparatus that allows direct measurements of the structure of thin layers under a confining pressure using neutron radiation. We will use this to measure the inter-layer thickness and overall thickness of a confined stack of bi-layers for a range of temperatures, the phase transition will show up as a large increase in layer thickness with decreasing temperature. Furthermore, DPPC is known to have a pre-transition to a ripple phase a few degrees below its transition temperature, our experiments will also determine if such a pre-transition still exists under confinement.
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Download DataThe recommended format for citing this dataset in a research publication is in the following format:
DE VOS Wiebe; ABBOTT Stephen; BARKER Robert; COSGROVE Terence; MEARS Laura; PRESCOTT Stuart and RICHARDSON Robert M.. (2012). Confinement induced phase transitions in lipid bi-layers.. Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) doi:10.5291/ILL-DATA.9-13-454
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