The guest-induced oscillation of a monolayer composed of polypeptide containing β-cyclodextrin at the terminal

We prepared a rod-like amphiphile with a molecular recognition end group, alpha-helical and hydrophobic poly(gamma-methyl L-glutamate) (PMG) containing hydrophilic beta-cyclodextrin (CyD) as an active end group (PMG-CyD), and formed its monolayer at the n-hexane/water interface. The interfacial pressure (pi)-area (A) isotherms of the monolayer showed that alpha-helix rod of PMG-CyD could be vertically oriented at the oil/water interface, facing the hydrophilic terminal CyD group to the water phase, by increasing the interfacial concentration of the polypeptide. Under the condition 2-p-toludinyl-naphthalene-6-sulfonate (TNS), an intimate guest molecule for the CyD in water was introduced into the water phase beneath the monolayer. Within a minute the monolayer began to oscillate which could be monitored by the rhythmic response of the interfacial pressure of the monolayer. The oscillation continued over ten minutes and then terminated. The mode of the oscillation was found to change with time, i.e., the initial stage showing a periodic sharp reduction in the interfacial pressure (period I), the second stage having sharp increase in the pi value (period II), and the last stage of irregular oscillations (period III). The Fourier analysis of each period also supported the three stages during the oscillatory process. It was also found that when the alpha-helix rod of PMG-CyD lay down in the monolayer, the guest TNS did not induce any changes in the interfacial tension. This nonlinear rhythmic interfacial phenomenon was explained in terms of the periodic movement of the PMG-CyD monolayer resulting from the binding and releasing of the guest TNS across the oil/water interface. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S1054-1500(99)00402-4].