Polyelectrolyte exibility effect on the morphology of charged lipid multilayers

Abstract

Coupling of. exible (PAAS: polyacrylic acid sodium salt) and semiflexible (lambda DNA) polyelectrolytes onto an oppositely charged lipid monolayer (DOTAP: dioleoyl trimethylammonium propane chloride) at the air-liquid interface leads distinctive collapse behavior with lateral compression. In both cases, trilayer domains form by nucleation growth mechanism followed by multilayer formation with further compression. The. exible chain induces circular, fluid domains while the semiflexible chain induces elongated, solid-like domains. These morphological differences show that the flexibility of adsorbed polymers strongly affects the rigidity of the lipid membrane.