In a crossed molecular beam experiment time-of-flight distributions of ortho D2 molecules scattered from normal H2 (nH2) and para H2 (pH2) have been measured in a center-of-mass angular range of 75° to 180°. The collision energies were 84.1 and 87.2 meV, respectively. In all spectra the rotational excitation of D2 from j=0 to j=2 has been resolved. With pH2 as secondary beam the same transition could also be observed for H2. The measurements show that the probability for rotational excitation of D2 depends on whether the scattering partner H2 is rotating (nH2) or not (pH2). In the first case the cross sections are larger by a factor of approximately 2. The reason for this behavior is the presence of an additional interaction term which is at long range distances, identical to the quadrupole–quadrupole interaction and which is absent if H2 is in the j=0 state. The experimentally derived differential cross sections for the rotational excitation of D2 and H2 are compared with theoretical results obtained by close coupling calculations based on the ab initio potential surface of Meyer and Schaefer. The comparison shows a remarkable agreement. However, small deviations in the positions of the diffraction oscillations of the elastic differential cross section curve suggest that the isotropic potential term has to be shifted to smaller distances. In order to maintain the relative position of the inelastic differential cross section curves which are well predicted by the ab initio potential the same shift has to be applied to the anisotropic potential terms.

The perturbation of phospholipid bilayer membranes by a nonionic detergent, octaethyleneglycol mono-n-dodecylether (C12E8), was investigated by 2H- and 31P-NMR, static and dynamic light scattering, and differential scanning calorimetry. Preequilibrated mixtures of the saturated phospholipids 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphorylcholine (DPPC), 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphorylcholine (DMPC), and 1,2-dilauroyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphorylcholine (DLPC) with the detergent were studied over a broad temperature range including the temperature of the main thermotropic phase transition of the pure phospholipids. Above this temperature, at a phospholipid/detergent molar ratio 2:1, the membranes were oriented in the magnetic field. Cooling of the mixtures below the thermotropic phase transition temperatures of the pure phospholipids led to micelle formation. In mixtures of DPPC and DMPC with C12E8, a narrow calorimetric signal at the onset temperature of the solubilization suggested that micelle formation was related to the disorder-order transition in the phospholipid acyl chains. The particle size changed from 150 nm to approximately 7 nm over the temperature range of the bilayer-micelle transition. The spontaneous orientation of the membranes at high temperatures enabled the direct determination of segmental order parameters from the deuterium spectra. The order parameter profiles of the phospholipid acyl chains could be attributed to slow fluctuations of the whole membrane and to detergent-induced local perturbations of the bilayer order. The packing constraints in the mixed bilayers that eventually lead to bilayer solubilization were reflected by the order parameters of the interfacial phospholipid acyl chain segments and of the phospholipid headgroup. These results are interpreted in terms of the changing average shape of the component molecules. Considering the decreasing cross sectional areas in the acyl chain region and the increasing hydration of the detergent headgroups, the bilayer-micelle transition is the result of an imbalance in the chain and headgroup repulsion. A neutral or pivotal plane can be defined on the basis of the temperature dependence of the interfacial quadrupolar splittings.

In deuterium ((2)H) NMR spectroscopy of fluid lipid bilayers, the average structure is manifested in the segmental order parameters (S(CD)) of the flexible molecules. The corresponding spin-lattice relaxation rates (R(1Z) depend on both the amplitudes and the rates of the segmental fluctuations, and indicate the types of lipid motions. By combining (2)H NMR order parameter measurements with relaxation studies, we have obtained a more comprehensive picture of lipids in the liquid-crystalline (L(alpha)) state than formerly possible. Our data suggest that a lipid bilayer constitutes an ordered fluid, in which the phospholipids are grafted to the aqueous interface via their polar headgroups, whereas the fatty acyl chains are in effect liquid hydrocarbon. Studies of (2)H-labeled saturated lipids indicate their R(1Z) rates and S(CD) order parameters are correlated by a model-free, square-law functional dependence, signifying the presence of relatively slow bilayer fluctuations. A new composite membrane deformation model explains simultaneously the frequency (magnetic field) dependence and the angular anisotropy of the relaxation. The results imply the R(1Z) rates are due to a broad spectrum of 3-D collective bilayer excitations, together with effective axial rotations of the lipids. For the first time, NMR relaxation studies show that the viscoelastic properties of membrane lipids at megahertz frequencies are modulated by the lipid acyl length (bilayer thickness), polar headgroups (bilayer interfacial area), inclusion of a nonionic detergent (C(12)E(8)), and the presence of cholesterol, leading to a range of bilayer softness. Our findings imply the concept of elastic deformation is relevant on lengths approaching the bilayer thickness and less (the mesoscopic scale), and suggest that application of combined R(1Z) and S(CD) studies of phospholipids can be used as a simple membrane elastometer. Heuristic estimates of the bilayer bending rigidity kappa and the area elastic modulus K(a) enable comparison to other biophysical studies, involving macroscopic deformation of thin membrane lipid films. Finally, the bilayer softness may be correlated with the lipid diversity of biomembranes, for example, with regard to membrane curvature, repulsive interactions between bilayers, and lipid-protein interactions.

Material properties of lipid bilayers were studied on the mesoscopic scale using deuterium nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The fluid phase of 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DMPC) was compared with DMPC containing a nonionic detergent as an additive. Order parameter profiles were obtained from the deuterium NMR spectra of DMPC having perdeuterated acyl chains (DMPC-d 54). A reduction of the order parameters of DMPC-d 54 in the presence of the detergent octaethyleneglycol-mono-n-dodecyl ether (C12E8) was observed, consistent with an increased configurational freedom of the phospholipid acyl chains. Relaxation rates and were measured and spectral densities J m (mω0) where m = 1,2 were calculated from the combined relaxation results. Profiles of the observables, i.e., order parameters, relaxation rates, and spectral densities were interpreted within the framework of a new composite membrane deformation model, which describes characteristic properties of the membrane in terms of a continuum picture. According to this model, the influence of the nonionic detergent (C12E8) on the electroneutral DMPC membrane is to increase the membrane flexibility as manifested by the functional dependence of the and rates, i.e., the dependence of the spectral densities on the corresponding profiles of the orientational order parameters | |. Within the theoretical framework the increased flexibility of the detergent-containing membranes corresponds to a decrease of the elastic constants for continuum (elastic) deformations of the membrane bilayer. In the case of splay fluctuations the elastic constant and the bilayer thickness are related to the macroscopic bending rigidity, which qualitatively yields a correspondence to studies of macroscopic bending fluctuations thus yielding support for the model. In general, these findings indicate a softening of the membrane bilayer by the presence of a nonionic detergent, which corresponds to a decrease of the elastic constants for continuum deformations of the membrane.

The physics of soft materials can be investigated using nuclear spin-lattice relaxation, which depends on the spectral densities of motion in the MHz range. For the first time, NMR relaxation has been used to study influences of the acyl length, polar head groups, a cosurfactant, and cholesterol on the viscoelastic properties of membrane lipids. The results imply the concept of elastic deformation is relevant on lengths approximately equal to the bilayer thickness and less, involving a broad spectrum of collective modes which contribute to the forces between lipid bilayers.