Kinetic barriers and ordering of non-covalently bound states.

Binding of a dimer of a glycopeptide antibiotic to two molecules of a ligand that are bound to a membrane surface (by a hydrocarbon anchor) has been investigated. This binding on a surface is cooperatively enhanced (surface enhancement) relative to the binding in solution, because the former occurs intramolecularly on a template. Previously a correlation between surface enhancement and thermodynamic stability of the dimer in free solution (Kdimsol) was hypothesised.