Phase Transition Of F-DPPC
			Liquid Crystalline Phase > 50°C (Lamellar Bilayer)
			Gel Phase <50°C (Interdigititated Bilayer)

Surprisingly, we found that the phase transition temperature (Tm) of F-DPPC occurs near 50 degrees C,
approximately 10 degrees C higher than its nonfluorinated counterpart, DPPC, as judged by both differential
scanning calorimetry and infrared spectroscopy. The pretransition observed for DPPC is absent in F-DPPC. A combination of REDOR, rotational-echo double-resonance, and conventional solid-state NMR experiments
demonstrates that F-DPPC forms a fully interdigitated bilayer in the gel phase. Electron paramagnetic resonance experiments show that below Tm, the hydrocarbon chains of F- DPPC are more motionally restricted than those of DPPC. X-ray scattering experiments confirm that the thickness and packing of gel phase F-DPPC is similar to that of heptanetriol-induced interdigitated DPPC. F-DPPC is the first phosphoglyceride containing sn-1 and sn-2 ester-linked fatty acyl chains of equal length that spontaneously forms interdigitated bilayers in the gel state in the absence of inducing agents such as alcohols.

Reference

• Hirsh, D.J., N. Lazaro, L.R. Wright, J.M. Boggs, T.J. McIntosh, J. Schaefer, and J. Blazyk. (1998).
  A new monofluorinated phosphatidylcholine forms interdigitated bilayers. Biophys J 75:1858-68.
  [PubMed]