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7754432 
Journal Article 
Structure and phase behavior of phospholipid-based micelles in nonaqueous media 
Gupta, R; Muralidhara, HS; Davis, HT 
2001 
Langmuir
ISSN: 0743-7463
EISSN: 1520-5827 
AMER CHEMICAL SOC 
WASHINGTON 
17 
17 
5176-5183 
English 
The phase behavior of phospholipid aggregates in nonaqueous media of hexane and vegetable oil with a negligible aqueous core (water < 0.3 wt %) was investigated. It was found that inverse micellar structures formed by phospholipids in a hexane-oil mixture resulted in three principal domains of phase behavior: micellar solution, two-phase dispersion, and dense micellar solution. The dependence of the phases on temperature, water, and solvent/phospholipid concentration was also examined. As opposed to structures in aqueous media, nonaqueous structures were found to be weakly dependent on these parameters, with the exception of solvent composition. Micellar sizes (∼60 Å diameter) were determined using various experimental techniques. The principal techniques used in our studies were cryo-transmission electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, and X-ray scattering. In our studies, we explored the limitations of these techniques and estimated size, shape, and phase nature of lipid aggregates.