The organization of phospholipid monolayers and their monolayers mixed with fatty acid containing azobenzene on the water surface was investigated by means of the displacement current measurement method. The phase transition from the gaseous phase to the gaseous-fluid phase which accompanies the polar ordering of phospholipid molecules was detected in the range of immeasurably low surface pressure. The molecular area which gives the onset of the transition was determined for phospholipid monolayers. The Maxwell displacement current(MDC) pulses were generated across mixed monolayers due to the photoisomerization of fatty acid containing azobenzene by alternating irradiation of ultraviolet and visible light, because the condensation of pure azobenzene monolayers was loosened by the introduction of phospholipids into the monolayers. The displacement currents generated during light irradiation were also investgated in connection with monolayer compression cycles. It was found that the maximum of MDC appeared at the molecular area just before the initial rise of surface pressure in compression cycles.

• Keun-Ho Park