Use of attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy to monitor the development of lipid aggregate structures.

Attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy is used to monitor the adsorption of 100 nm 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DPPC) phospholipid vesicles to the surfaces of Ge, electrolessly deposited Au, and a well formed self-assembled monolayer of 1-octadecanethiol. The interaction of DPPC vesicles in solution with these different surfaces yields distinctly different surface structures: intact DPPC vesicles on Ge, a supported phospholipid bilayer on an electrolessly deposited Au surface, and a phospholipid monolayer onto the hydrophobic self-assembled monolayer. IR peak position, bandwidth, and intensity are used to confirm structure formation and quantitation of the amount of lipid that desorbs during film formation.