Raman spectroscopic study of an interdigitated lipid bilayer. Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine dispersed in glycerol.

Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) dispersed in perdeuterated glycerol was investigated in order to determine the effects on the Raman spectra of hydrocarbon chain interdigitation in gel-phase lipid bilayers. Interdigitated DPPC bilayers formed from glycerol dispersions in the gel phase showed a decrease in the peak height intensity I2850/I2880 ratio, for the symmetric and asymmetric methylene CH stretching modes, respectively, as compared to non-interdigitated DPPC/water gel-phase dispersions. The decrease in this spectral ratio is interpreted as an increase in chain-chain lateral interactions. Spectra recorded in the 700-740 cm-1 CN stretching mode region, the 1000-1200 cm-1 C-C stretching mode region and the 1700-1800 cm-1 C = 0 stretching mode region were identical for both the interdigitated and non-interdigitated hydrocarbon chain systems. At low temperatures the Raman peak height intensity ratios I2935/I2880 were identical for the DPPC/glycerol and DPPC/water dispersions, indicating that this specific index for monitoring bilayer behavior is insensitive to acyl chain interdigitation. The increase, however, in the change of this index at the gel-liquid crystalline phase transition temperature for the DPPC/glycerol dispersions implies a larger entropy of transition in comparison to the non-interdigitated DPPC/water bilayer system.