ASSEMBLY OF POLYMER LIPID COMPOSITE FILMS ON SOLIDS BASED ON HAIRY ROD LB-FILMS/

The present work deals with the assembly of multilayers or rod-like po lymers with hydrophobic side chains (called hairy rods) and their pote ntial application as ultrathin polymer cushions for the build-up of se lf healing supported membranes on various solids (Si/SiO2-wafer, gold covered substrates). Three types of hairy rods were studied: Isopentyl cellulose (IPC), phtalocyaniatopolysiloxane with mixed alkane side ch ains (PCPS) and trimethylsilane cellulose (TMCS). Detailed analysis of the thickness of supported multilayers as a function of the number of deposited monolayers with ellipsometry, near infrared surface plasmon resonance (NIR-SPR), a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) and reflecti on interference contrast microscopy (RICM), show that the basic buildi ng blocks of hairy rod multilayers are bilayers with the hydrophobic s urfaces of the monolayers facing each other. Continuous and stable fir ms of hairy rods can be deposited if the hydrophobicities of the solid surface and the monolayer are matched. It is demonstrated by lateral diffusion measurements (using photobleaching techniques) that continuo us phospholipid bilayers can be deposited onto multilayers of rigid ro ds of TMCS after hydrophilization by cleavage of trimethylsilane side chains in HCl-vapour, while stable lipid monolayers can be deposited o nto hydrophobic surfaces of rigid rod layers. NIR-SPR allows the obser vation of double band reflectivity curves at interfaces separating dif ferent surface layers and thus offers the possibility of differential detection of ligand binding at the interface of differently functional ized domains.