Relaxation dynamics of liposomes in an aqueous solution

The gel-liquid crystal phase transition has been studied by the temperature and frequency dependent dielectric relaxation behavior of liposomes in an aqueous solution (40 g L(-1) DPPC-water mixture). Four relaxation processes were observed in the frequency range from 40 Hz to 30 GHz which were ascribed to different molecular mechanisms, related to the structural units of the system. The gel-liquid crystal phase transition was also described very accurately from the temperature-dependent dielectric relaxation strength, relaxation time and symmetric shape parameter of the relaxation functions obtained from the fitting procedure. Relaxation process 3, obtained from the dielectric fitting procedure, was confirmed by dielectric modulus analysis. A comparison of the lipid membrane with non-biological systems like liquid crystals was performed. It was determined that the lipid membrane has a ferroelectric liquid crystal like behavior. Process 3 is comparable to the soft mode relaxation process observed in ferroelectric liquid crystals which was detected close to the smectic-C*-smectic-A phase transition. Differential scanning calorimetry was also used to confirm the gel-liquid crystal phase transition of this mixture.