Distinct critical fluctuations and molecular motions manifest in a model biomembrane

Lattice dynamics in bis-(n-C16H37NH3)2SnCl6, where the hydrocarbon part is analogous to lipid membrane, was investigated by means of 200 MHz 1H nuclear magnetic resonance. As a result, critical fluctuations and molecular dynamics associated with the phase transitions, an order–disorder and a conformational phase transition, were distinguished in a wide temperature range. The dynamical origin of the critical fluctuations, observed in the long-chain compounds but not in the short-chain compounds, by the laboratory frame spin–lattice relaxation measurements, is revealed and discussed in this work.