1H-NMR study of the three low temperature phases of DPPC-water systems.

The three phases of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine-water dispersions, occurring below the main transition are studied by a moment analysis of 1H-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra. The subtransition, recently detected by Chen, S. C., J. M. Sturtevant, and B. J. Gaffney, 1980, Pro. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 77:5060-5063, is characterized by a sharp drop in the second moment at 12 degrees C as a result of increasing the temperature. Interesting features of this phase transition are a hysteresis of 11 K and extremely slow kinetics. It is interpreted as the onset of a flip-flop of the hydrocarbon chains about their long axis. At the pretransition, this type of motion is assumed to change into a fast rotation. The proposed models for the three phases are confirmed by computer calculations of theoretical values for the second and fourth moments of the corresponding NMR signals.