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M. Fidorra, T. Heimburg and H. M. Seeger. 2009. Melting of Single Lipid Components in Binary Lipid Mixtures: A Comparison between FTIR Spectroscopy, DSC and Monte Carlo Simulations
Biochim. Biophys. Acta. 1788: 600-607. (arXiv:physics/0712.0064) abstract62

Monte Carlo (MC) Simulations, Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Fourier Transform InfraRed (FTIR) spectroscopy were used to study the melting behavior of single lipid components in two-component membranes of 1,2- Dimyristoyl-D54-sn-Glycero-3-Phosphocholine (DMPC-d54) and 1,2-Distearoyl-sn-Glycero-3-Phosphocholine (DSPC). Microscopic information on the temperature dependent melting of the single lipid species could be investigated using FTIR. The microscopic behavior measured could be well described by the results from the MC simulations. These simulations also allowed to calculate heat capacity profiles as determined with DSC. These ones provide macroscopic information about melting enthalpies and entropy changes which are not accessible with FTIR. Therefore, the MC simulations allowed us to link the two different experimental approaches of FTIR and DSC.