The basic plan of this project is to assemble a complete set of thermodynamic and structural data for a well defined set of peptides in order to explore specific questions concerning the nature of protein/bilayer interactions. This project is expected to lead to a refined view of such interactions and to provide information about hydrophobicity scales and their application in the assessment of membrane protein structure. The generally accepted image of membranes is that of a quasi two-dimensional solution of hydrophobic protein "solutes" partitioned into a lipid bilayer "solvent". It is important to develop a quantitative understanding of the bilayer as a solvent for hydrophobic molecules with the goal of describing not only interactions of hydrophobic peptides with bilayers but eventually the interactions of protein with membranes.***//
