Miscibility behavior of ternary lipidphospholipid/water systems

Differential-scanning-calorimetry was applied to study the lyotropic and thermotropic properties of the two ternary systems dimyristoylcephaline (di-(C14:0)-PE)/Palmitic acid (C₁₅COOH)/water (H₂O) and dimyristoylcephaline (di-(C14:0)-PE)/palmitic acid methyl ester (C₁₅COOMe)/water (H₂O) in dispersions with excess water (50 wt.%).The phase diagrams of both systems showed that the two systems differ in their miscibility behavior. The system di-(C14:0)-PE/C₁₅COOH/H₂O is completely miscible in its high-temperature phase. In the low-temperature phase the mixing gap was found within the concentration range of C₁₅COOH and was also indicated by a maximum value of the transition enthalpy of the pseudo-binary mixtures.In the pseudo-binary system di-(C14:0)-PC/C₁₅COOMe/H₂O, the tendency towards demixing is much more pronounced. It was observed that the incorporated C₁₅COOMe melted above its normal melting point, but below the transition temperature of di(C14:0)-PE/H₂O system; therefore, the phase transition started at lower temperature. In the low-temperature phase, both lipids are partially miscible. The demixing range of the phase diagram lies within the concentration region of C₁₅COOMe. Up to the mole fraction ofXC₁₅COOMe=0.43, C₁₅COOMe can be incorporated into theL-phase of the system di-(C14:0)-PE/H₂O.