0000000000222106

AUTHOR

David Vaknin

0000-0002-0899-9248

Molecular recognition processes at functionalized lipid surfaces: a neutron reflectivity study

The specific binding of proteins to functionalized monolayers on aqueous subphases has been characterized by neutron reflectivity measurements. As a model for the investigation of a recognition process on a molecular length scale, streptavidin (SA) and biotin were chosen because of the high specific affinity between them. Reflectivities from the aqueous (NaCl/H2O or NaCl/D2O) surfaces covered with the biotin-lipid monolayers before and after the adsorption of proteins were collected with a novel, fixed wavelength liquid surface neutron reflectometer. In quantitative terms, binding was found to occur at a biotin surface concentration as low as 1 molecule/1250 A2 (compare to ∼ 1 molecule/40 A…

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Polymorphism control of an active pharmaceutical ingredient beneath calixarene-based Langmuir monolayers.

This communication demonstrates the possibility to nucleate and grow different crystalline polymorphic forms of gabapentin (GBP) using, as nucleation templates, Langmuir monolayers of an amphiphilic calixarene at different packing densities.

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Structural properties of phosphatidylcholine in a monolayer at the air/water interface

Neutron reflectivities of phosphatidylcholine monolayers in the liquid condensed (LC) phase on ultrapure H 2 O and D 2 O subphases have been measured on a Langmuir film balance. Using a dedicated liquid surface reflectometer, reflectivities down to R = 10 -6 in the momentum transfer range Q z = 0–0.4A -1 were accessed. In a new approach, by refining neutron reflectivity data from chain-perdeuterated DPPC-d 62 in combination with x-ray measurements on the same monolayer under similar conditions it is shown that the two techniques mutually complement one another. This analysis leads to a detailed conception of the interface structure. It is found that in the LC phase (which is analogous to th…

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A new liquid surface neutron reflectometer and its application to the study of DPPC in a monolayer at the air/water interface

A constant wavelength neutron reflectometer is described. Using this reflectometer, the neutron reflectivities from phosphatidylcholine monolayers in the highly condensed LC phase on ultra pure H2O and D2O have been measured on a Wilhelmy film balance. The neutron reflectivities have been carefully compared with those obtained by the X-ray method applied to the same monolayer under similar conditions. A new approach to analyzing a combined set of data composed of X-ray and neutron reflectivities has been used. From the analysis it is concluded that despite their limited qz range neutron reflectivities are as essential as X-ray reflectivities for the unique determination of the monolayer str…

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Influence of surface chemistry on the structural organization of monomolecular protein layers adsorbed to functionalized aqueous interfaces.

The molecular organization of streptavidin (SA) bound to aqueous surface monolayers of biotin-functionalized lipids and binary lipid mixtures has been investigated with neutron reflectivity and electron and fluorescence microscopy. The substitution of deuterons (2H) for protons (1H), both in subphase water molecules and in the alkyl chains of the lipid surface monolayer, was utilized to determine the interface structure on the molecular length scale. In all cases studied, the protein forms monomolecular layers underneath the interface with thickness values of approximately 40 A. A systematic dependence of the structural properties of such self-assembled SA monolayers on the surface chemistr…

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Surface properties of valine-gramicidin A at the air-water interface

Abstract Fluorescence microscopy, X-ray reflectivity and ellipsometry have been applied to the study of a monolayer of valine-gramicidin A (VGA) at the air-water interface to obtain insight into the conformation and orientation of VGA, and to clarify the shoulder observed in its π - A curve (12.5–16 mN m −1 , 240 – 175 A 2 molecule −1 ). At low molecular areas, the X-ray reflectivities are consistent with formation of a single layer of tubular-shaped dimers. Fluorescence microscopy yielded homogeneous pictures suggesting that on the macroscopic scale the shoulder cannot be attributed to domain formation. Thicknesses calculated from the ellipsometric isotherm are consistent with the X-ray da…

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CCDC 973532: Experimental Crystal Structure Determination

Related Article: Ludovico G. Tulli, Negar Moridi, Wenjie Wang, Kaisa Helttunen, Markus Neuburger, David Vaknin, Wolfgang Meier, Patrick Shahgaldian|2014|Chem.Commun.|50|3938|doi:10.1039/C4CC00928B

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