Calculation of the Phase Behavior of Lipids
arXiv:cond-mat/9802257 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.57.6973
Abstract
The self-assembly of monoacyl lipids in solution is studied employing a model in which the lipid's hydrocarbon tail is described within the Rotational Isomeric State framework and is attached to a simple hydrophilic head. Mean-field theory is employed, and the necessary partition function of a single lipid is obtained via a partial enumeration over a large sample of molecular conformations. The influence of the lipid architecture on the transition between the lamellar and inverted-hexagonal phases is calculated, and qualitative agreement with experiment is found.
to appear in Phys.Rev. E