Surface shear viscosity and phase transitions of monolayers at the air-water interface

The canal method has been employed to measure the in-plane steady shear viscosity of monolayers of bolaform lipids extracted from the membrane of the thermophilic microorganism Sulfolobus solfataricus. Monolayers were formed with the polar lipid extract (PLE), which is a mixture of several bolaform lipids, each one endowed with two nonequivalent polar headgroups. Viscosities were obtained from the measured flows by using the equation introduced by Joly; this equation contains a semiempirical parameter A, which takes into account the monolayer-subphase mechanical coupling. Measuring the flows for two different substances (PLE and oleic acid) and channel widths, the monolayer viscosities and the parameter A were determined at the same time. The analysis of the viscosity data according to the free area model shows evidences of the molecular conformational changes matching monolayer phase transitions.