Mixed micelles of monomeric and dimeric cationic surfactants with phospholipids: effect of hydrophobic interactions

Surface tension (gamma) and time resolved fluorescence quenching (TRFQ) measurements have been performed on the binary mixtures of monomeric as well as dimeric alkylammonium bromides with l-alpha-dimyristoylphosphatidycholine (DMPC) and L-alpha-dipalmitoylphosphatidycholine (DPPC). The critical micelle concentration (cmc) has been evaluated from the gamma measurements. The gamma plots show two breaks in the gamma versus [total surfactant] curves in most of the cases. The first break (C1) has been attributed to the mixed vesicle formation process. The break down of the vesicles leads to the mixed micellization between the surfactant and phospholipid monomers at the second break (C2). The amount of surfactant used in the vesicle breakdown process (DeltaC) increases linearly with the increase in the amount of phospholipid and depends significantly on the hydrophobicities of the cationic components. The surface area per molecule (a) evaluated from the gamma plots indicates compact monolayer formation in the case of monomeric surfactants with lower hydrophobicities and reverse is observed for dimeric surfactants. The pyrene life time (tau) of the solubilized pyrene in the hydrophobic environment of mixed micelles, fully supports the conclusion that derived from a.