Time-resolved X-ray diffraction was employed to monitor transitions, induced by pressure jumps, between
inverse lyotropic liquid crystalline phases of the mixed lipid system lauric acid/dilauroylphosphatidylcholine
(2:1 molar ratio) in water. We studied transitions between the gyroid,
, and the double diamond,
,
inverse bicontinuous cubic phases and between
and the inverse hexagonal, HII, phase at a fixed water
composition of 50 wt %. The transition
→
occurred within the 0.5 s time resolution of our X-ray
measurements. This transition occurs without any change in water content within the mesophase but with
a small change in the total topology. The transition
→ (
+ HII + excess water) was observed at 59.3,
62.8, and 66.9 °C. The process appeared to follow first-order kinetics, with rate constants of 0.11, 0.17,
and 0.26 s-1, respectively. The reverse transition occurred much more quickly, being completed in <1 s.
In both cases, intermediate structures were observed, including the appearance of the inverse bicontinuous
cubic phase based on Schwarz's P minimal surface,
. We found that the latter intermediate had, to first
order, the same curvature elastic energy as the
phase but a greater water content. Building on earlier
work (Erbes, J.; Winter, R.; Rapp, G. Ber. Bunsen-Ges. Phys. Chem. Chem.
Phys.
1996, 100, 1713−1722),
we consider the rate to depend on the difference between the final pressure and the pressure at the phase
transition boundary and suggest that this can explain both the temperature dependence of the transition
→ (
+ HII + excess water) and the higher rate of the reverse process.