X-ray diffraction studies of lecithin bimolecular leaflets with incorporated fluorescent probes.

X-ray diffraction studies on dispersions and oriented multilayers of dipalmitoyllecithin and different fluorescent probe molecules are reported. Analysis of the diffraction data provides the electron density profile for the different bilayers to 6- to 8-Angstrom resolution. The location of the probe molecules in the bilayer structure and the perturbation of the lecithin bilayer produced by the probes are discussed.