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Updated: Jun 22, 2026

Orientational Transition in a Liquid Crystal Triggered by the Thermodynamic Growth of Interfacial Wetting Sheets
Published on: May 15, 2017
Orientation and specific interactions of nucleotides and nucleolipids inside monoolein-based liquid crystals
Sergio Murgia1, Sandrina Lampis, Rossella Angius
1Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Cagliari University and CSGI, SS 554 Bivio Sestu, 09042 Monserrato (CA), Italy. murgias@unica.it
Abstract:
The entrapment of AMP, GMP, CMP, and UMP nucleotides along with two different AMP-based nucleolipids (hydrophobically functionalized nucleotides) inside the liquid crystalline phases of the monoolein/water system is investigated through optical microscopy, small-angle X-ray diffraction (SAXRD), and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques. As ascertained mainly through (31)P NMR experiments, when included within the cubic phase, the various nucleotides undergo a slow hydrolysis of the sugar-phosphate ester bond, induced by specific interactions at the monoolein-water interface. Upon aging, the degradation of the nucleotides causes a cubic-to-hexagonal phase transition. Differently, neither hydrolysis nor alterations of the monoolein self-assembly are observed when the nucleotides are included as lipid derivatives within the cubic liquid crystalline phase. A model that explains both the hydrolysis and the consequent phase transition is presented.
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