Phosphatidylcholine Vesicle Diameter, Molecular Weight and Wall Thickness Determined by Static Light Scattering

✍ Scribed by John H. van Zanten; Harold G. Monbouquette

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1994
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 404 KB
• Volume: 165
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-9797
• DOI: 10.1006/jcis.1994.1256

✦ Synopsis

Phosphatidylcholine vesicles in the diameter range, 40 to 115 (\mathrm{nm}) scatter light as isotropic hollow spheres within the RayleighGans-Debye (RGD) approximation. A more complex model (i.e., the exact or Lorenz-Mie theory) is not required for accurate interpretation of the static light scattering data. The scattered light intensity measurements also: allow for the determination of the vesicle weight-average molecular weight through a Zimm plot analysis. This information, in combination with the vesicle size as determined within the RGD approximation, indicates that the vesicle wall thickness is close to (3.6 \mathrm{~nm}) as previously determined by (\mathrm{X})-ray diffraction methods. Thus, static light scattering techniques may provide excellent estimates of surfactant vesicle wall thicknesses. 1994 Academic Press. Inc.