Monolayers of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine at the oil-water interface

Abstract Monolayers of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine at the interfaces waterbicylohexyl, waterdodecane and waterhexadecane were studied by fluorescence microscopy and thermodynamic measurements. The experiments show that the oil also partitions in the liquid condensed (LC) monolayer phase with concentration depending on the type of oil and the lateral pressure. In contrast to monolayers of dipalmitoylphosphatidylethanolamine the larger molecular area per head group enables oil partitioning in the LC phase even if there is a mismatch between the aliphatic tails of liquid and alkane.