The potent tumor-promoting agent 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) is surface active and was found to occupy a limiting area of 62 sq A/molecule in monolayers at the air-water interface. The interfacial tension of aqueous TPA solutions is decreased by increasing the bulk-phase TPA concentrations up to 2 x 10(-6) M,beyond which no further decreases were observed. This concentration is in agreement with the apparent solubility limit previously obtained. The apparent aqueous solubility limit of the more hydrophobic phorbol-didecanoate is 5 x 10(-8) M. Interaction of TPA with egg phosphatidylcholine monolayers at the air-water interface was shown by an increase in the surface pressure of the monolayer from 22 dynes/cm, initial film pressure, to 34 dynes/cm 90 min after introduction of TPA into the aqueous subphase. It was shown by gel filtration chromatography that a similar phorbol derivative, tritiated phorbol-didecanoate, binds to phospholipid vesicles. Differential scanning calorimetry also indicated that the addition of either TPA or an inactive stereoisomer, 4-alpha-phorbol-didecanoate, to phospholipid bilayers results in a marked reduction of the enthalphy of the minor transition of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine liposomes. Several fluorescence polarization probes for membrane fluidity indicate that TPA does not affect this membrane parameter. Further, the presence of TPA induces no measurable change in the cation permeability of phospholipid vesicles, the conductance of planar bilayer membranes, or the electrophoretic mobility of negatively charged liposomes. The lack of a specific effect with bilayers alone, combined with the documented physiological effects at low TPA concentrations, point to the possibility of a specific membrane component as the receptor for TPA at the plasma membrane.