Monolayers condensed phases

There has been much activity in the study of monolayer phases via the new optical, microscopic, and diffraction techniques described in the previous section. These experimental methods have elucidated the unit cell structure, bond orientational order and tilt in monolayer phases. Many of the condensed phases have been classified as mesophases having long-range correlational order and short-range translational order. A useful analogy between monolayer mesophases and die smectic mesophases in bulk liquid crystals aids in their characterization (see [182]). 

The three general states of monolayers are illustrated in the pressure-area isotherm in Fig. IV-16. A low-pressure gas phase, G, condenses to a liquid phase termed the /i uid-expanded (LE or L ) phase by Adam [183] and Harkins [9]. One or more of several more dense, liquid-condensed phase (LC) exist at higher pressures and lower temperatures. A solid phase (S) exists at high pressures and densities. We briefly describe these phases and their characteristic features and transitions several useful articles provide a more detailed description [184-187]. 

Simulations of monolayers have focused on internal phase transitions, e.g., between the expanded phase and the condensed phases, between different tilted phases, etc. These phenomena cannot be reproduced by models with purely repulsive interactions. Therefore, Haas et al. [148,149] represent the amphiphiles as stiff Lennard-Jones chains, with one end (the head bead) confined to move in a plane. In later versions of the model [150-152], the head bead interactions differ from those of the tail beads they are taken to be purely repulsive, and the head size is variable. 

FIG. 8 Phase diagram of a Langmuir monolayer in a model of grafted stiff Lennard-Jones chains. LE denotes a disordered expanded phase, LC-U a condensed phase with untilted chains, LC-NN and LC-NNN condensed phases with collective tilt towards nearest neighbors and next-nearest neighbors, respectively, and LC-mod a phase which has a superstructure and an intermediate direction of tilt. (From Stadler and Schmid [151].)... 

FIG. 3 An isotherm is depicted for a Langmuir monolayer of an amphiphUe showing the ft-A variation for the phase sequence gas (G) —> G + liquid-expanded (LE) —> LE —> LE + tilted condensed phase (L2) —> L2 —> vertical condensed phase (LS) —> S (solid). Schematic depictions of the molecular organization in the phases are shown above the isotherm. 

Monolayer phase sequences are temperature dependent. For chain lengths greater than that of pentadecanoic acid, the LE phase will not be observed at room temperature. For chain lengths shorter than myristic acid (C14), condensed phases will not be observed at... 

Initially, the compression does not result in surface pressure variations. Molecnles at the air/water interface are rather far from each other and do not interact. This state is referred to as a two-dimensional gas. Farther compression results in an increase in snrface pressure. Molecules begin to interact. This state of the monolayer is referred as two-dimensional liquid. For some compounds it is also possible to distingnish liqnid-expanded and liquid-condensed phases. Continnation of the compression resnlts in the appearance of a two-dimensional solid-state phase, characterized by a sharp increase in snrface pressure, even with small decreases in area per molecule. Dense packing of molecnles in the mono-layer is reached. Further compression results in the collapse of the monolayer. Two-dimensional structure does not exist anymore, and the mnltilayers form themselves in a non-con trollable way. 

It has been shown by FM that the phase state of the lipid exerted a marked influence on S-layer protein crystallization [138]. When the l,2-dimyristoyl-OT-glycero-3-phospho-ethanolamine (DMPE) surface monolayer was in the phase-separated state between hquid-expanded and ordered, liquid-condensed phase, the S-layer protein of B. coagulans E38/vl was preferentially adsorbed at the boundary line between the two coexisting phases. The adsorption was dominated by hydrophobic and van der Waals interactions. The two-dimensional crystallization proceeded predominately underneath the liquid-condensed phase. Crystal growth was much slower under the liquid-expanded monolayer, and the entire interface was overgrown only after prolonged protein incubation. 

Prior to LB transfer, the surface pressure - molecular area (n-A) isotherms of dialkylsilane under various pH and temperature conditions were investigated. The pH condition of the subphase (water phase under the monolayer) is a crucial factor for the monolayer state. The condensed phase was formed directly without formation... 

Taken together, the equilibrium spreading pressures of films spread from the bulk surfactant, the dynamic properties of the films spread from solution, the shape of the Ylj A isotherms, the monolayer stability limits, and the dependence of all these properties on temperature indicate that the primary mechanism for enantiomeric discrimination in monolayers of SSME is the onset of a highly condensed phase during compression of the films. This condensed phase transition occurs at lower surface pressures for the R( —)- or S( + )-films than for their racemic mixture. 

As discussed in section 2.2, a mixture of AMP and AA showed two solid condensed phases above and below about 30 mN m- [5,10]. A loosely stacked structure of two porphyrins was proposed for LB films prepared at higher surface pressures than 30 mNmr1, which was caused by squeezing-out of a monomolecular structure formed at lower surface pressure [5,10]. In this section, photoelectric characteristics of LB films containing AMP and AA deposited at two solid condensed phases will be discussed in relation to multilayer structure and the anisotropic intermolecular tunneling rates [87]. Seven monolayers of 1 5 or 1 10 mixture of AMP and AA were deposited at 20 and 50 mN m-1 on an ITO plate at 18 °C to form stable Y-type LB films. Aluminum was vacuum evaporated onto LB films as sandwich-type electrodes at 10-6 Torr. Steady photocurrents were measured in a similar manner as mentioned above. 

Figure 4. Principle of monolayer characterization via surface pressure (n)-area (A) isotherms (a) gaseous phase, (b) liquid expanded phase, (c) condensed phase (head packing), (d) condensed phase...

In monolayers the polyreaction is only possible, if the monomers are in the condensed phase. (That this, however, is some-... 

The monolayer behavior of A-stearoyltyrosine (Fig. 16) was more complex. Under conditions (0.0liV HCl, 22 C) where the racemic material formed a condensed film having a limiting molecular area of 39 2 A, the force-area curve of L-(+)-A-stearoyltyrosine exhibited a liquid-expanded film at large areas (ca. 100-45 per molecule) followed by a transition beginning at 16.5 dynes/cm surface pressure to a condensed phase having a smaller limiting molecular area of 34 2 A . However, both these latter samples exhibited only the liquid-expanded phase on distilled water alone. 

The decomposition of this intermediate on both the Ni(llO) and Ni(lOO) surfaces occurred by an autocatalytic mechanism (99) for adsorbate coverages above about one-tenth of a monolayer. In fact, the decomposition rate was observed to accelerate isothermally as the reaction proceeded on both the Ni(l 10) and Ni(lOO) surfaces (98, 99) the rate of acceleration was more pronounced on the (110) surfaces. Furthermore, the intermediates were observed to form islands, as if a two-dimensional phase condensation occurred at about one-tenth monolayer coverage. The formation of this 2D condensed phase was clear indication of attractive interactions among the adsorbed species. 

Ex situ measurements in the presence of dissolved oxygen have proved that the mixed monolayer was stable in the solution free of 6TG and guanine. Madueno etal. [Ill] have also studied adsorption and phase formation of 6TG on mercury electrode. At high potentials, the molecules were chemisorbed and were able to form a self-assembled monolayer. When the potential was scanned to more negative values, reductive desorption of the monolayer was observed. Cathodic voltam-metric peaks, which are typical of a 2D condensed phase transition, divided the potential window into two regions one, in which self-assembled monolayer was stable, and the second, in which a physisorbed state existed. 

Numerical data are available from our earlier penetration work for a number of monolayer/surfactant systems. The simplest of these systems was selected for this initial analysis the penetration of cholesterol monolayers by hexadecyl-trimethyl-ammonium bromide (CTAB) J). Cholesterol monolayers at 298 K exhibit a single, highly incompressible, condensed phase with the transition to a gaseous phase occurring at a negligibly low surface pressure. CTAB does not appear to undergo surface hydrolysis (10) and the gaseous-to-expanded phase transition occurs at a low concentration (0.043 mmol kg ) and a low surface pressure (1.0 mN m l). 

Domain formation in binary mixtures of a polymerizable lipid and non-polymerizable lipid is well established for diacetylenic lipids. The rigid diacetylenic unit facilitates the formation of enriched domains in the condensed phase of monolayers or the solid-analogous phase of bilayers. Since diacetylenes polymerize most readily in solid-like states, most studies have focused on conditions that favor domain formation. Only in the case of a mixture of a charged diacetylenic lipid and a zwitterionic PC was phase separation not observed. Ringsdorf and coworkers first reported the polymerization of a phase-separated two-dimensional assembly in 1981 [33], Monolayer films were prepared from mixtures consisting of a diacetylenicPC (6) (Fig. 5) and a nonpolymerizable distearoyl PE (DSPE). 

Two experimental observations led to the conclusion that these lipids were phase-separated in the monolayer condensed state. First, the mean molecular area (Am) varied linearly with the mole fraction of DSPE in the monolayer. Moreover, the data were fit well with a straight line which connected the Am values for the individual lipids, indicative of ideal behavior [34]. These data show that the lipids were either completely phase separated or ideally mixed. The... 

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