Wednesday, June 18, 2008 - 4:44 PM
Room 6 (McKimmon Conference Center)
533

Phase Dynamics during Isothermal Domain Melting in Binary Amphiphilic Monolayers at An Air-Water Interface

Rita El-khouri1, Alan Szmodis1, Shelli L. Frey2, Emily Hall2, Ka Yee C. Lee2, Timothy E. Patten1, and Atul Parikh1. (1) University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, (2) The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL

           Liquid-liquid immiscibility in spinodal systems exhibits a rich variety of domain morphologies and shape transitions.  A generic description for domain formation invokes competing interactions; van der Waals attraction and long-range dipolar repulsion. In equilibrated Langmuir films, such a description predicts a variety of ordered shapes, the most common being stripes and bubbles.[1] In practice however disordered stripes are most frequently observed.  These have been most extensively documented for interfacial Langmuir monolayers of phospholipids and cholesterol examples such as 65% DMPC: 35% Cholesterol.[2],[3],[4]  Despite vast experimental effort in equilibrated phospholipid monolayers, reports on the observations of ordered morphologies (and transitions among them) are rare.  Herein, we report the observation of homogeneous-bubble-stripe morphology during relaxation of pre-compressed langmuir monolayers of Poly(oxyethylene) (PEG)-amphiphile and a phospholipid at vanishing pressures. The PEG-amphiphiles used are single-chain polymers terminated with an alkyl tail.  The bubble to stripe transition in these PEG/phospholipid systems only occurs at a specific percent concentration of the mixtures.  The domain evolution is area and time dependent as well (figure 1).


[1] Michael Seul, D. A., Domain Shapes and Patterns: The Phenomenology of Modulated Phases. Science 1995, 267, (27), 476-483.

[2] M Seul, a. V. S. C., Isotropic and Aligned Stripe Phases in a Monomolecular Organic Film. Physical Review Letters 1993, 70, (11), 1658-1661.

[3] Seul, M., Dynamics of Domain Shape Relaxation in Langmuir. J. Phys. Chem. 1993, 97, 2941-2945

[4] Subramaniam, S. a. M. H. M., Critical Mixing in Monolayer Mixtures of Phospholipid and Cholesterol. J. Phys. Chem. 1987, 91, 1715-1718.