Structural determination and packing analysis of a cholesteryl caprate/cholesteryl laurate solid solution.

This paper describes the X-ray crystal structure analysis of a cholesteryl ester solid solution, cholesteryl decanoate/cholesteryl laurate, grown from a bulk concentration with molar ratio 0.56/0.43. The unit cell is monoclinic with a = 12.969, b = 9.048, c = 31.137 A, and beta = 91.12 degrees and the space group P2(1) with Z = 4 (two molecules per asymmetric unit). The cell constants closely represent an average value of crystal parameters for the two pure components (hence, nearly corresponding to Vegard's law). Although the overall monolayer 1 lamellar packing is superficially similar to the earlier-studied cholesteryl undecanoate/cholesteryl laurate solid solution, a more partitioned distribution of acyl chains, i.e., a microfractionation corresponding to the observed nonideal phase behavior, is suggested. The behavior is similar to that found for n-paraffin binaries cooled below a binodal phase boundary. Although it cannot be detected conclusively in this determination (due to high thermal motion of terminal acyl chain atoms), the non-stoichiometric combination of components also requires some partial occupancy of atomic sites on the chain termini. This structural arrangement is contrasted with the alternative expression found earlier for the more ideal undecanoate/laurate solid solution, i.e., random co-packing leading to fractional atomic occupancy in an average laurate structure. The final weighted R factor for 4578 reflections is 0.138.