Effects of Butanol Isomers on Fluorinated Lipid Bilayers

Abstract

This project researches the effects of butanol isomers on the interdigitation of a fluorinated lipid, 1-palmitoyl-2-(16-fluoropalmitoyl)-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (F-DPPC). Interdigitation is one of several states that a lipid bilayer can take, and it is characterized by the interlacing of the lipid tails, in a fashion similar to a zipper. This state can be induced by many conditions, both physical and chemical. This project was testing what effect the presence of butanol isomers would have on the lipid state. The data shows a sudden change in the bilayer?s state at high concentrations of butanol. The sudden decrease in the hysteresis of the main transition temperature from the LbI phase to the La phase suggests that the lipid is not in a typical interdigitated phase anymore. Running the lipid through a sonicator produced the same effect at lower concentrations of alcohols. There is documented research that a sonicator will cause other lipids to go into a vesicle state, however this has not yet been researched for F-DPPC. Other methods of analysis will be used to validate that the lipid is going into a vesicle state at the high alcohol concentrations.