Raman spectroscopy has been used to study the paraffin-like side chain of lipids. Model molecules have been employed to study the interactions defining bilayer or vesicle reorganization as a function of concentration or vesicle temperature. It is known that vesicle structural and functional properties may be altered by lipid-lipid reorganization and single-compartment or multicompartment vesicle formation. The synthetic vesicles studied here are defined as smectic mesophases of completely synthetic surfactant bilayers containing entrapped water. Although many publications have documented the utilization of monolayers and bilayers, we believe that vesicle reorganization phenomena during polymerization of vesicles form an interesting process that deserves more study. Two synthetic vesicles - didodecyldimethylammonium bromide, positively charged, and dihexadecylphosphate, negatively charged - both have a long chain of -CH2- groups extended from one end to the other in the multicompartment vesicle.
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