BLM

In biological systems molecular assemblies connected by non-covalent interactions are as common as biopolymers. Examples arc protein and DNA helices, enzyme-substrate and multienzyme complexes, bilayer lipid membranes (BLMs), and aggregates of biopolymers forming various aqueous gels, e.g, the eye lens. About 50% of the organic substances in humans are accounted for by the membrane structures of cells, which constitute the medium for the vast majority of biochemical reactions. Evidently organic synthesis should also develop tools to mimic the Structure and propertiesof biopolymer, biomembrane, and gel structures in aqueous media. 

A typical biomembrane consists largely of amphiphilic lipids with small hydrophilic head groups and long hydrophobic fatty acid tails. These amphiphiles are insoluble in water (<10 ° mol L ) and capable of self-organization into uitrathin bilaycr lipid membranes (BLMs). Until 1977 only natural lipids, in particular phospholipids like lecithins, were believed to form spherical and related vesicular membrane structures. Intricate interactions of the head groups were supposed to be necessary for the self-organization of several ten thousands of... 

Fig. 5. Various layers in a flip-chip bond, where BLM = ball-limiting metallurgy and TSM = top-surface metallurgy (3).

The BLM layer uses a glue layer of chromium or titanium. These metals stick well to other metals and most dielectrics, but they are not solderable. Copper, nickel, and silver have been used as the solder-wetting layer for BLM in appHcations involving 95% lead—5% tin solders. Gold is commonly used as the oxidation layer on account of its resistance to oxidation and its excellent solderabiUty. 

As first shown by Hladky and Haydon 7,8), it is possible to observe the current due to a single transmembrane channel by using extensions of the planar lipid hilaver approach of Mueller and Rudin 9). The basic system is shown in Fig. 2 and is commonly referred to as the black lipid membrane (BLM) method. This is because, as the lipid in the hole between the two chambers thins, the areas that have become planar bilayers are seen as black. Additional terms are bilayer lipid membranes or planar lipid bilayer membranes. These lipid bilayer membranes, particularly those which are solvent free, have capacitances which are very close to those of biological membranes. 

The use of Upid bilayers as a relevant model of biological membranes has provided important information on the structure and function of cell membranes. To utilize the function of cell membrane components for practical applications, a stabilization of Upid bilayers is imperative, because free-standing bilayer lipid membranes (BLMs) typically survive for minutes to hours and are very sensitive to vibration and mechanical shocks [156,157]. The following concept introduces S-layer proteins as supporting structures for BLMs (Fig. 15c) with largely retained physical features (e.g., thickness of the bilayer, fluidity). Electrophysical and spectroscopical studies have been performed to assess the appUcation potential of S-layer-supported lipid membranes. The S-layer protein used in aU studies on planar BLMs was isolated fromB. coagulans E38/vl. 

Painted BLMs were made of a solntion of the desired phospholipid in a long-chain alkane (n-decane or hexadecane) or sqnalene [160], Again, a Teflon cnvette was separated into two compartments by a septnm with an orifice 0.8-3 mm in diameter. The orifice was... 

The SUM was covered by a polymer film with an orifice of approximately 0.3 mm in diameter on each side, and subsequently a folded BLM was generated from a DPhPC/l,2-dipalmitoyl-in-glycero-3-phosphatidic acid (DPPA) monolayer on the side facing the SUM (Fig. 19). Interestingly, no pretreating of the orifice with any alkane or lipid was required, as is imperative for all other BLM techniques. Thus, an accumulation of such compounds could be excluded, and the physicochemical properties of the membrane and... 

Experiments with radioactive cluster compounds ( Au) allowed precise analyses of the particles distribution in the cells. In case of melanoma BLM it was found that 57.5% of the radioactive gold was in the cytoplasma... 

In connection with the content of this section, dynamic features of ion transports through polyvinyl chloride membranes [27,28], ion-exchange resin membranes [29,30], or BLMs [31-36] have been discussed in the light of VCTTMs. For wide and pertinent applications of the VCTTM, however, further investigations have been required on the experimental and theoretical methods to analyze VCTTM quantitatively. 

Here, the BLM was obtained as a black lipid membrane by brushing an -decane solution of a 1 1 mixture of phosphatidylcholine and cholesterol on an aperture of 1 mm in diameter in a tetrafluoroethylene resin sheet of 0.2 mm thick [37-39]. The BLM was not sufficiently stable when wi-w2 out of the region was applied. 

The results given here suggest that even the ion transfer through a BLM is controlled mainly by the ion transfer reactions at two aqueous-membrane interfaces in analogy with... 

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