Thermodynamics of Phospholipid Tubules in Alcohol/Water Solutions

摘要

Circular dichroism and calorimetry have been used to study the melting of self-assembled phospholipid tubules in alcohol/water solutions. The tubules are found to melt either continuously or discontinuously, depending on the type of alcohol, the alcohol/water ratio, and the lipid concentration. At high proportions of alcohol and low lipid concentrations, the ellipticity continuously decreases with temperature and a very broad peak in the specific heat is observed.