Microspectroscopic investigations of phase transition behaviors of phospholipid monolayer and reduction reactions of tetrachloroaurate(III) occurring at liquid/liquid interfaces

Abstract

Phenomena and reactions occurring at liquid/liquid interfaces are hard to measure directly because of the flexibility of the interfaces, prevention of the interfaces by two phases, quite small amounts of substances existing at the interfaces, and the diffusion of substances at the interfaces. We invented a two-phase thin-layer microcell to observe and measure phenomena and reactions at liquid/liquid interfaces by optical microscopy with high magnification and high resolution. In this report, the following two topics are introduced: 1) the phase transition behaviors of a phospholipid monolayer at liquid/liquid interfaces, and 2) the reduction reactions of tetrachloroaurate(III) with hydrophobic substances at liquid/liquid interfaces.