The results

The results click here obtained suggest that colour transition in PCDA/DMPC vesicles, from blue to red, can be used for the development of sensors to be used in the food industry to monitor temperature variations at different stages of processing. Another important stimulus that is known to cause colour change in PDAs is the pH variation. The spectrophotometric

results obtained by the addition of 0.1 M NaOH to the PCDA/DMPC aqueous vesicle suspension (initial pH 6.2 and pH values of 7.3, 8.2, 8.9, 9.1, 10.0, 11.0 and 12.2 obtained after NaOH addition) are shown in Fig. 3. The NaOH titration provided colour transition from blue (maximum absorption 640 nm) to red (maximum absorption 540 nm) in vesicles at pH above 9.0 and the formation of intermediate chromic GW-572016 order phase was not observed. The colorimetric response (CR) values were 26%, 44%, 38% and 33% at pH 9.1, 10.0, 11.0 and 12.2, respectively. Colorimetric response values ⩾15% are visible to the naked eye (Boullanger et al., 2008). On the other hand, the addition of 0.1 M HCl (to give pH values of 5.4, 5.0, 3.5, 3.0 and 2.5) and acidification of the vesicles at pH values lower than 4.0 provided no change in the colorimetric properties of vesicles (there was no change in colour), but led to the formation of aggregates of vesicles and turbidity in the medium, which prevented

spectrophotometric measurements. The results are similar to those presented by Kew and Hall (2006), for 10,12-tricosadienoic acid vesicles. These authors observed irreversible colour change from blue to red when pH was increased by adding NaOH and the formation of precipitate at pH below 4.0. They also observed the formation of an isosbestic point, indicating that the colour change from red to blue occurred without formation of intermediate colour. The same can Tolmetin be seen in Fig. 3 for the PCDA/DMPC vesicles studied except at pH 12.2. In this case the pH value promoted the colour change

from blue to red without formation of intermediary colour and also promoted changes in the vesicle structure that caused decrease in red colour intensity, with absorbance values of approximately half those of the others. In these studies, the effects that lead to colour change due to variation in pH were not evaluated, but some authors have suggested mechanisms to elucidate such chromatic transitions. Song, Cheng, Kopta, and Stevens (2001), suggested that colour change from blue to red is caused by increased electrostatic repulsion among the head groups, due to elevation of pH caused by adding NaOH. Kew and Hall (2006) proposed that the change in colour due to pH is related to Coulomb repulsion among head groups, which can cause conformational disturbances in PDA structure. Boullanger et al.

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