Phase equilibria in phospholipid-water systems

This work is a critical account of phase studies of phospholipid-water mixtures. The Phase Rule and equations of thermodynamics of heterogeneous systems are applied in the analysis of calorimetric and dilatometric results for these systems. It is inferred that the approach in which a lipid-water mixture of low lipid content is regarded as a one-component system is misleading and unhelpful. A mixture containing water and a pure synthetic phospholipid is a binary system, and the Phase Rule can be applied to it in a straightforward manner. Non-isothermal transitions and invariant three-phase reactions of the eutectic, peritectic and polytectic type can be encountered in lipid-water systems, like in other binary mixtures. The concentration dependence of the enthalpy of the isothermal three-phase transition yields a well-known Tammann triangle. For the volume change at such transition an analog of the Tammann triangle can be drafted which can be useful in interpretation of dilatometric and densitometric data for heterogeneous binary systems.The literature thermodynamic data for the aqueous lipids are analyzed on the basis of the phase diagram of the DPPC-water system. The measured values of the transition enthalpy and volume change at the pre- and main transitions refer to invariant phase reactions. The measured heat capacities and thermal coefficients of expansion actually characterize the biphasic lipid-water mixtures and may reflect phenomena specific for heterogeneous binary systems only. A reinterpretation of the literature DSC data for the DPPC-water system at temperatures below zero is suggested.Experience gained in the study of equilibrium phase diagram, kinetic and colloidal aspects of phase behaviour of dioctadecyldimethylammonium chloride-water system indicates that the common procedures of the sample preparation of lipid-water mixtures may lead to the states which are non-equilibrium in two respects: the system contains a metastable phase, and the phase is dispersed to such an extent that an irreversible colloidal structure is formed. Definitive phase studies of the phase behaviour of phospholipid-water systems in the whole concentration range are urgently needed.