Enzymatisch gesteuerte Benetzungsübergänge in zweidimensionalen dipolaren Langmuir-Filmen

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Thomas Martin Fischer
• Subject Area: Experimental Condensed Matter Physics
• Term: from 2000 to 2003
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5235454

The enzymatic control of two dimensional wetting in the three phase coexistence region liquid condensed/liquid expanded/ gaseous (LC/LE/G) of a Langmuir monolayer at the air/water interface shall be investigated using fluorescence microscopy combined with optical tweezers. Wetting transitions (complete towards partial wetting) shall be induced by adding enzymes to the subphase causing a change in surfactant composition in an initial two component (methyl-octadecanoate/phosphatidylinositol) monolayer mixture. Using the Langmuir monolayer as a model, the experiments shall reveal the possibility of a close interrelation between wetting nano-morphologies and protein activity in biological membranes, which originate from an electrostatically induced shape dependence of the line tensions between the coexisting phases.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1052: Benetzung und Strukturbildung an Grenzflächen