We report vibrational sum frequency generation (SFG) spectra in which the C-H stretches of lipid alkyl tails in fully hydrogenated single-and dual-component supported lipid bilayers are detected along with the O-H stretching continuum above the bilayer. As the salt concentration is increased from ~10 µM to 0.1 M, the SFG intensities in the O-H stretching region decrease by a factor of 2, consistent with significant absorptive-dispersive mixing between χ (2) and χ (3) contributions to the SFG signal generation process from charged interfaces.A method for estimating the surface potential from the second-order spectral lineshapes (in the OH stretching region) is presented and discussed in the context of choosing truly zero-potential reference states. Aided by atomistic simulations, we find that the strength and orientation distribution of the hydrogen bonds over the purely zwitterionic bilayers are largely invariant between sub-micromolar and hundreds of millimolar concentrations. However, specific Dogangun et al.Page 2 interactions between water molecules and lipid headgroups are observed upon replacing phosphocholine (PC) lipids with negatively charged phosphoglycerol (PG) lipids, which coincides with SFG signal intensity reductions in the 3100 cm -1 to 3200 cm -1 frequency region.The atomistic simulations show that this outcome is consistent with a small, albeit statistically significant, decrease in the number of water molecules adjacent to both the lipid phosphate and choline moieties per unit area, supporting the SFG observations. Ultimately, the ability to probe hydrogen-bond networks over lipid bilayers holds the promise of opening paths for understanding, controlling, and predicting specific and non-specific interactions between membranes and ions, small molecules, peptides, polycations, proteins, and coated and uncoated nanomaterials.I. Introduction. The structure of water over lipid membranes is of interest for a variety of reasons that are rooted in fundamental scientific interest and connect all the way to biological function and technological applications. 1-6 Specific questions pertain to whether there exist populations of interfacial water molecules that can undergo hydrogen-bond (H-bond) interactions with certain membrane constituents that can be strengthened or weakened with variations in ionic strength, or, as indicated by molecular dynamics simulations, 2 whether some population of water molecules exists that may interact specifically with certain lipid headgroups over others.While interface-specific vibrational spectroscopic approaches, particularly those that are based on sum frequency generation (SFG), are in principle well suited for probing water near membranes, this method has been largely limited to probing lipid monolayers 1, 7-16 chemically asymmetric bilayers, [17][18][19] or the use of D 2 O as opposed to H 2 O. 20-21 Indeed, the use of SFG spectroscopy for probing fully hydrogenated lipid bilayers is now just emerging. Part of the Dogangun et al. Page 3 reason for this relatively new ...

We report the detection of charge reversal induced by the adsorption of an aqueous cationic polyelectrolyte, poly­(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH), to supported lipid bilayers (SLBs) used as idealized model biological membranes. Through the use of an α-quartz reference crystal, we quantify the total interfacial potential at the interface in absolute units using heterodyne-detected second harmonic generation (HD-SHG) as an optical voltmeter. This quantification is made possible by isolating the phase-shifted potential-dependent third-order susceptibility from other contributions to the total SHG response. We detect the sign and magnitude of the surface potential and the point of charge reversal at buried interfaces without prior information or complementary data. Isolation of the second-order susceptibility contribution from the overall SHG response allows us to directly characterize the Stern and diffuse layers over single-component SLBs. We apply the method to SLBs formed from three different zwitterionic lipids having different gel-to-fluid phase transition temperatures (T m’s). We determine whether the surface potential changes with the physical phase state (gel, transitioning, or fluid) of the SLB. Furthermore, we incorporate 20% of negatively charged lipids to the zwitterionic SLB to investigate how the surface potential and the second-order nonlinear susceptibility χ(2) change with surface charge.

<div><div><div><p>We report the detection of charge reversal induced by the adsorption of a cationic polyelectrolyte, poly(allylamine) hydrochloride (PAH), to buried supported lipid bilayers (SLBs), used as idealized model biological membranes. Through the use of an α-quartz reference crystal, we quantify the total interfacial potential at the interface in absolute units, using HD-SHG as an optical voltmeter in which the traditional wire leads of a voltmeter have been replaced by photons. This quantification is made possible by isolating from other contributions to the total SHG response the phase-shifted potential-dependent third-order susceptibility. We detect the sign and magnitude of the surface potential and the point of charge reversal at buried interfaces without prior information or complementary data. Isolation of the second-order susceptibility contribution from the overall SHG response allows us to directly characterize the Stern and Diffuse Layers over single-component SLBs formed from three different zwitterionic lipids of different gel-to-fluid phase transition temperatures (Tms). We determine whether the surface potential changes with the physical phase state (gel, transitioning, or fluid) of the SLB and incorporate 20 percent of negatively charged lipids to the zwitterionic SLB to investigate how the surface potential and the</p><p>second-order nonlinear susceptibility chi(2) change with surface charge.</p></div></div></div>

Charge densities of cationic polymers adsorbed to lipid bilayers are estimated from second harmonic generation (SHG) spectroscopy and quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) measurements. The systems surveyed included poly(vinylamine hydrochloride) (PVAm), poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDADMAC), poly-l-lysine (PLL), and poly-l-arginine (PLR), as well as polyalcohol controls. Upon accounting for the number of positive charges associated with each polyelectrolyte, the binding constants and apparent free energies of adsorption as estimated from SHG data are comparable despite differences in molecular masses and molecular structure, with ΔGads values of -61 ± 2, -58 ± 2, -57 ± 1, -52 ± 2, -52 ± 1 kJ mol-1 for PDADMAC400, PDADMAC100, PVAm, PLL, and PLR, respectively. Moreover, we find charge densities for polymer adlayers of approximately 0.3 C m-2 for poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) while those of poly(vinylamine) hydrochloride, poly-l-lysine, and poly-l-arginine are approximately 0.2 C m-2. Time-dependent studies indicate that polycation adsorption to supported lipid bilayers is only partially reversible for most of the polymers explored. Poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) does not demonstrate reversible binding even over long timescales (>8 hours).