Miscibility and interaction between 1-alkanol and short-chain phosphocholine in the adsorbed film and micelles

The miscibility and interaction of 1-hexanol (C6OH) and 1-heptanol (C7OH) with 1,2-dihexanoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DHPC) in the adsorbed films and micelles were investigated by measuring the surface tension of aqueous C6OH–DHPC and aqueous C7OH–DHPC solutions. The surface density, the mean molecular area, the composition of the adsorbed film, and the excess Gibbs energy of adsorption gH,E, were estimated. Further, the critical micelle concentration of the mixtures was determined from the surface tension versus molality curves; the micellar composition was calculated. The miscibility of the 1-alkanols and DHPC molecules in the adsorbed film and micelles was examined using the phase diagram of adsorption (PDA) and that of micellization (PDM). The PDA and the composition dependence of gH,E indicated the non-ideal mixing of the 1-alkanols and DHPC molecules due to the attractive interaction between the molecules in the adsorbed film, while the PDM indicated that the 1-alkanol molecules were not incorporated in the micelles within DHPC rich region. The dependence of the mean molecular area of the mixtures on the surface composition suggested that the packing property of the adsorbed film depends on the chain length of 1-alkanol: C6OH expands the DHPC adsorbed film more than C7OH.