A glimpse at the metaphysics of Bongard problems

The interaction between a charged surfactant and a lipase has been investigated by several methods. Interactions in aqueous bulk phase was studied by NMR and by microcalorimetry. Surface tension and neutron reflectivity were used for studies at the air-water interface. Interactions at the interface between a hydrophobic solid surface and water was investigated by ellipsometry. The results obtained are as follows. The cationic surfactant, tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide (iodide in the NMR experiments), showed strong interaction at the air-water and the hydrophobic solid-water interfaces but no clear indication of an interaction in bulk phase was seen. The anionic surfactant showed no interaction with the lipase neither at the interfaces, nor in bulk. The difference in behavior of the system cationic surfactant-lipase in bulk and at the interfaces may be due to the change in enzyme conformation that is known to occur at interfaces between water and an apolar phase.