Dynamics of bolaamphiphilic fluorescent polyenes in lipid bilayers from polarization emission spectroscopy Original Research Article

The rotational motions of the biamphiphilic polyenes (bolapolyenes) dimethyl all-(E)-octacosa-10,12,14,16,18-pentaenedioate (DE28:5) and dimethyl all-(E)-tetratriaconta-13,15,17,19,21-pentaenedioate (DE34:5), with head-to-head distances of 34 and 42 Å, respectively, have been examined by fluorescence anisotropy methods. The membrane-spanning bolapolyenes, which contain a central emitting pentaene group tethered to two methoxycarbonyl opposite polar heads by symmetric C8 (DE28:5) and C11 (DE34:5) polymethylene chains, were dispersed in lipid bilayers of DPPC or DMPC, and the stationary and picosecond-resolved emission was recorded as a function of temperature. In fluid-phase DMPC bilayers, three relaxation times could be determined, assigned to fast (0.2 and 2 ns) single-bond isomerization processes localized on the alkyl chains, and to whole-molecule oscillations (∼11 ns), respectively. The anisotropy decay parameters were further analyzed in terms of a diffusive model for wobbling in a Gaussian ordering potential, to assess the anchoring effect of the symmetric polar heads. In this way, the average rotational diffusion constant of the bolapolyenes, D⊥, could be estimated as 0.022–0.026 rad2 ns− 1 (DMPC bilayers, 35 °C), a value that is only 1 / 3 of that corresponding to the related pentaene fatty acid spanning a single membrane monolayer. In contrast, the amplitude of the equilibrium orientational distribution (θhalf-cone∼50°) is very similar for both the transmembrane and the single-headed polyenes. The reorientational oscillations of the central emitting group in the bolapolyenes necessarily would produce large-amplitude (2–5 Å) and very fast (ns) translational motions of the polar heads.