Abstract
Stable planar membranes have been obtained from the bipolar lipid glycerol dialkyl nonitol tetraether (GDNT) extracted from the thermoacidophilic archebacterium Sulfolobus acidocaldarius. The electric capacity C m, the resistance R m and tension σ of these membranes were measured. The dependence of the bipolar lipid membranes mean life time τ 1 on voltage was investigated. It was shown that the irreversible electric breakdown of membranes from GDNT and usual phospholipids is due to the same mechanism, viz., due to formation of a hydrophilic pore with an overcritical radius. Under electric field the GDNT molecules take U-shape, and the polar headgroups of such molecules cover the pore's interior.
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