DOMAIN SHAPES AND MONOLAYER STRUCTURES OF TRIPLE-CHAIN PHOSPHOLIPIDS ON WATER

Two triple-chain phospholipid isomers were investigated at the air-wat er interface by means of fluorescence microscopy and grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GID). The two lipids differ only in the position o f the branched chain at the glycerol backbone. Fluorescence microscopy shows different domain shapes. In one system the domain boundary is s mooth, and the other system shows sharp-edged domains. In the case of dendritic domains the chains are more tilted, the deviation from hexag onal symmetry is more pronounced and hence the lattice anisotropy is l arger.