TCE     
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The Chemical Educator
ISSN: 1430-4171 (electronic version)
Abstract Volume 4
Issue 1 (1999) pp 12-15
Characterizing the Gel to Liquid Crystal Transition in Lipid-Bilayer Model Systems
T. M. Koyama, C. R. Stevens,
E. J. Borda, K. J. Grobe, D. A. Cleary*
Department of Chemistry, Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington 99258
Published online: 1 February 1999
Abstract. A laboratory exercise that introduces differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) is presented. In order to connect this basic physical chemistry technique with an application in the biological sciences, students investigated the thermodynamic properties of lipid-bilayer model compounds. DSC was used to characterize the gel-to-liquid-crystal transition for three phosphatidylcholines of varying acyl chain length. The laboratory exercise is suitable only for students with some background in physical chemistry and biochemistry.
Key Words: Laboratories and Demonstrations; differential scanning calorimetry; phosphatidylcholines; phase transition; liquid crystal; liposomes; cholesterol; intercalation; biochemistry
(*) Corresponding author. (E-mail: cleary@gonzaga.edu)
Article in PDF format (97 KB) HTML format
Issue date: February
1, 1999
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