We study the dependence of the phase behavior of ternary amphiphilic systems on composition and temperature. Our analysis is based on a curvature elastic model of the amphiphile film with sufficiently large spontaneous curvature c0 and sufficiently negative saddle-splay modulus κ̄ that the stable phases are the lamellar phase and a droplet microemulsion. In addition to the curvature energy, we c...

Polysynthetically-twinned titanium aluminide (PST-TiAl), a fully lamellar γ-TiAl+α2Ti3Al dual-phase alloy, is under evaluation for applications in rotary components in aircraft and automobile industries due to its high specific strength, and a high strength-retention capability at elevated-temperatures. However, the low ductility at roomto mid-high temperatures of the material hinders its appli...

Recent successes in the crystallographic determination of structures of transmembrane proteins in the G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) family have established the lipidic cubic phase (LCP) environment as the medium of choice for growing structure-grade crystals by the method termed "in meso". The understanding of in meso crystallogenesis is currently at a descriptive level. To enable an eventu...

We study morphologies of thin-film diblock copolymers between two flat and parallel walls. The study is restricted to the weak segregation regime below the order-disorder transition temperature. The deviation from perfect lamellar shape is calculated for phases which are perpendicular and parallel to the walls. We examine the undulations of the inter material dividing surface and its angle with...

We report the first evidence of the potential of new amphiphilic ABA-triblock copolymers as gelling agents for lamellar liquid crystalline LR phases. Recently, we described a new type of lamellar hydrogels which are not based on a polymer network swollen in water but are obtained by the addition of small amounts of a nonionic polymer surfactant to the fluid lamellar LR phase of the dimyristoylp...

The birefringence of a lyotropic lamellar phase is calculated as a function of dilution. It is found to vanish and change sign, provided the natural birefringence of surfactant bilayers is positive. Dispersion is calculated about the point of zero birefringence. These predictions are illustrated with experiments of spectrophotometry: the intensity of light transmitted between crossed polarizers...

Numerically minimizing a continuous free-energy functional which yields several modulated phases, we obtain the order-parameter profiles and interfacial free energies of symmetric and nonsymmetric tilt boundaries within the lamellar phase, and of interfaces between coexisting lamellar, hexagonal, and disordered phases. Our findings agree well with chevron, omega, and T-junction tilt-boundary mo...

The lipid-protein film covering the interface of the lung alveolar in mammals is vital for proper lung function and its deficiency is related to a range of diseases. Here we present a molecular-level characterization of a clinical-grade porcine lung surfactant extract using a multitechnique approach consisting of [Formula: see text]-[Formula: see text] solid-state nuclear magnetic spectroscopy,...

The hydrophobic lung surfactant SP-B is essential for respiration. SP-B promotes spreading and adsorption of surfactant at the alveolar air-water interface and may facilitate connections between the surface layer and underlying lamellar reservoirs of surfactant material. SP-B63-78 is a cationic and amphipathic helical peptide containing the C-terminal helix of SP-B. (2)H NMR has been used to ex...

The lipid transfer and mixing properties in hydrated dispersions of dimyristoyl phosphatidylcholine (DMPC)/dimyristoyl glycerol (DMG) binary mixtures have been investigated by using electron spin resonance spectroscopy of the spin-labelled lipid components. The assay system is based on the reduction in spectral broadening from spin-spin interactions that takes place by dilution of the spin-labe...