2007 School for Liquid Surface X-ray Scattering: Theory and Experimental Methods

Lipid Monolayer Experiment

Phospholipids are the main building blocks of virtually all biological membranes. Synchrotron X-ray studies of Langmuir monolayers formed at air-liquid interfaces provide insights into the structural organization of biological membranes on a molecular level. Several long-chain phospholipids will be studied at different surface pressures in the model experiments using grazing incidence X-ray diffraction and X-ray reflectivity. The data will be analyzed to obtain information on the molecular tilt, thickness of the film, two-dimensional periodicity and packing properties of the molecules.