Guozhen Ji

Study on the Aggregation and Deaggregation Behaviors of Phosphatidylcholines

Phosphatidylcholines and their analogs, the functional building block of the membrane, are recently found to mediate multiple physiological processes and exhibit a broad range of desirable pharmacological effects, which involve hydrophobic lipophilic interactions (HLI) between the phospholipid and the cell membrane. The HLI behavior of phosphatidylcholines (Ln) and their analogues 1,2-diacyl-sn-glycerol-3-phosphoric acid bromoethyl ester (Pn), have been investigated hi MeOH-H2O binary systems of different volume fractions (designated as Phi) of the, organic component, by employing a-nephthylethyl lauryl ether (Np-12) as fluorescent probe. A very interesting observation is that the Ln possesses double character, i.e., it behaves both as an aggregator and as a deaggregator. The effects of the structure and the environment on the coaggregation and deaggregation am also discussed.