Phase diagram of soybean phosphatidylcholine-diacylglycerol-water studied by x-ray diffraction and 31P- and pulsed field gradient 1H-NMR: evidence for reversed micelles in the cubic phase.

The phase equilibria of the system soybean phosphatidylcholine, diacylglycerol, and water has been determined using a combination of classical methods together with x-ray diffraction and NMR techniques. In particular, the extent of the phase regions of the lamellar, the reversed hexagonal, and the cubic phases have been determined. By pulsed field gradient 1H-NMR, the diffusion coefficients of all three components in a cubic phase composed of soybean phosphatidylcholine, diacylglycerol, and heavy water have been determined at 25 and 59 degrees C and also for the corresponding cubic phase composed of the chemically more well defined synthetic components 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DOPC), 1,2-dioleoylglycerol (DOG), and heavy water. The extension of the phase region of the cubic phase did not seem to change appreciably for the two ternary systems studied. The translational diffusion coefficient of DOPC in this cubic phase is more than an order of magnitude smaller (3 x 10(-13) m2 s-1, 59 degrees C) than the lateral diffusion coefficient of DOPC in an oriented lipid bilayer (5 x 10(-12) m2 s-1, 35 degrees C), whereas the diffusion coefficients of water and DOG were found to be about two orders of magnitude larger than DOPC at 59 degrees C. It is concluded that the cubic phase is built built up of closed reversed micelles in accordance with the suggestion from previous x-ray diffraction studies.