Local high-density distributions of phospholipids induced by the nucleation and growth of smectic liquid crystals at the interface

Abstract

Amphiphilic molecules adsorbed at the interface could control the orientation of liquid crystals (LCs) while LCs in turn could influence the distributions of amphiphilic molecules. The studies on the interactions between liquid crystals and amphiphilic molecules at the interface are important for the development of molecular sensors. In this paper, we demonstrate that the development of smectic LC ordering from isotropic at the LC/water interface could induce local high-density distributions of amphiphilic phospholipids. Mixtures of liquid crystals and phospholipids in chloroform are first emulsified in water. By fluorescently labeling the phospholipids adsorbed at the interface, their distributions are visualized under fluorescent confocal microscope. Interestingly, local high-density distributions of phospholipids showing a high fluorescent intensity are observed on the surface of LC droplets. Investigations on the correlation between phospholipid density, surface tension and smectic LC ordering suggest that when domains of smectic LC layers nucleate and grow from isotropic at the LC/water interface as chloroform slowly evaporates at room temperature, phospholipids transition from liquid-expanded to liquid-condensed phases in response to the smectic ordering, which induces a higher surface tension at the interface. The results will provide an important insight into the interactions between liquid crystals and amphiphilic molecules at the interface.