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We employed vibrational sum-frequency generation (VSFG) spectroscopy to obtain molecular level understanding of interaction of l-phenylalanine (Phe) with lipid monolayers of zwitterionic 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DPPC) at the air–water interface. The measured VSFG spectra in the CH stretch region due to the lipid and Phe, and the OH stretch region due to interfacial water molecules were analyzed. These results in combination with surface pressure studies reveal that the Phe molecules at acidic pH of 5.6 intercalate into DPPC monolayers, and replace some interfacial water molecules. Consequently, there is a decrease in the VSFG intensity in the OH stretch region in the Phe subphase, and a concomitant increase in the surface pressure of the DPPC monolayer. The exclusion of the water molecules is controlled by both the bulk concentration of Phe, and the surface concentration of DPPC. In contrast, at the neutral pH of 7.3 there is an increase in the VSFG intensity due to the interfacial wat...

We employed vibrational sum-frequency generation (VSFG) spectroscopy to obtain molecular-level understanding of interaction of anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), in low bulk concentration at the micromolar level, with lipid monolayer zwitterionic 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DPPC) at the air–water interface. These results are different from those reported at higher bulk concentration of SDS at millimolar level. At very low concentration neither DPPC nor SDS produces any VSFG signal in the CH stretch region in the water subphase, but with the same concentration DPPC produces typical VSFG spectra at the SDS subphase due to interaction between these two molecules. The interaction leads to polar ordering of DPPC molecules with enhancement of VSFG intensity in the CH vibrational region of the hydrophobic tails. The interaction between the lipid and SDS molecules is influenced by concentrations of both lipid and SDS. Hydrophobic interactions between long alkyl chains of SDS and DPP...

The structure and orientation of interfacial morpholine molecules have been investigated, using vibrational sum-frequency generation (VSFG) spectroscopy—a nonlinear surface specific technique. The VSFG spectra with SSP and PPP polarizations have been measured in the CH (2800–3000 cm–1) and the OH (3000–3750 cm–1) stretch regions at the air–morpholine and air–solution interfaces. The vibrational frequencies in the CH stretch region could be observed in VSFG spectra, implying presence of morpholine molecules at the interfaces with net polar orientation. The intensities of the CH stretch bands get enhanced at the air–solution interface of morpholine solution in millimolar concentration, in comparison to that at the air–morpholine interface which is attributed to increase in polar orientation of interfacial morpholine molecules induced by water molecules. In pure morpholine, the most predominant conformation of molecules is equatorial chair, both in the bulk and at the air–morpholine interface. But in aqueous...