On the use of deuterium nuclear magnetic resonance as a probe of chain packing in lipid bilayers

Journal Article · Tue Feb 26 00:00:00 EST 1991 · Biochemistry; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/bi00222a019· OSTI ID:5621065

Boden, N; Jones, S A; Sixl, F ^[1]

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1. The University, Leeds (United Kingdom)

The packing of hydrocarbon chains in the bilayers of lamellar (L{sub {alpha}}) phases of soap/water and phospholipid/water mixtures has been studied by deuterium NMR spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. A universal correlation is shown to exist between the average C-D bond order parameter {bar S}{sub CD} of hydrocarbon chains and the average area per chain a{sub ch}, irrespective of the chemical structure of the surfactant, composition, and temperature. The practical utility of the correlation is illustrated by its application to the characterization of the distribution of various hydrophobic and amphiphilic solutes in bilayers. The distribution of hydrocarbons within a bilayer is shown to depend upon their molecular structure in a manner which highlights the nature of the molecular interactions involved. But the response of the surfactant chains to the void volume created in the center of the bilayer is dependent upon the distance of penetration of the alcohol into the bilayer. For benzyl alcohol, the shortest molecule, this void volume is taken up by the disordering of the chains, while for decanol, the longest molecule, it is absorbed by interdigitation of the chains of apposing monolayers. For octanol, the chain interdigitation mechanism is dominant at low concentrations, but there is a transition to chain disordering at high concentrations. Finally, it is shown that the correlation provides a useful test for statistical mechanical models of chain ordering in lipid bilayers.

• OSTI ID: 5621065
• Journal Information: Biochemistry; (United States), Vol. 30:8; ISSN 0006-2960
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE
LIPIDS
NUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE
MEMBRANES
X-RAY DIFFRACTION
BENZYL ALCOHOL
DEUTERIUM COMPOUNDS
SURFACTANTS
THIN-LAYER CHROMATOGRAPHY
ALCOHOLS
AROMATICS
CHROMATOGRAPHY
COHERENT SCATTERING
DIFFRACTION
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROXY COMPOUNDS
MAGNETIC RESONANCE
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
RESONANCE
SCATTERING
SEPARATION PROCESSES
550602* - Medicine- External Radiation in Diagnostics- (1980-)