title: Spectral assignment and orientational analysis in a vibrational sum frequency generation study of DPPC monolayers at the air/water interface.
abstract: The interfacial behavior of the benchmark zwitterionic phospholipid molecule dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) has been extensively investigated by surface-selective vibrational sum frequency generation spectroscopy (VSFG). However, there is still a lack of agreement between various orientational measurements of phospholipid monolayers at the air/water interface, mainly because of the difficulty in assigning congested VSFG features. In this study, polarization-dependent VSFG measurements reveal a frequency shift between the in-plane and out-of-plane antisymmetric stretching modes of the terminal methyl groups in the DPPC alkyl tails, favoring the model of Cslocal symmetry rather than the previously assumed C3vsymmetry. Further VSFG experiments of isotopically labeled DPPC successfully capture the vibrational signatures of the glycerol backbone. With the newly derived VSFG polarization selection rules for Cssymmetry and the refreshed spectral assignments, the average tilt angles of the alkyl tail groups, choline headgroup, and glycerol backbone of DPPC molecules can all be determined, showing the powerful capability of VSFG spectroscopy in revealing the structural details at interfaces. The VSFG polarization dependence rules and the orientational analysis procedures developed for Cssymmetry in this work are applicable to other bulky molecules in which the methyl group cannot freely rotate, and they therefore have general applications in future VSFG studies.
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences and State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Rong-Juan
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences and State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Xia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences and State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Zhen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences and State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Zhou
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences and State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D015060:1,2-Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine / Q000737:chemistry*; D000388:Air; D002794:Choline / Q000737:chemistry; D005990:Glycerol / Q000737:chemistry; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D013057:Spectrum Analysis; D013499:Surface Properties; D014732:Vibration; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D014867:Water; D015060:1,2-Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine; D002794:Choline; D005990:Glycerol