Theory of liquid-crystal phase transitions in lipid + water systems

Abstract

An explanation is proposed to account for the occurrence of “neat” and “middle” phases in mixtures of fatty acid salts and water. The method consists of calculating differences in the electrostatic free energies of charging and in the water-hydrocarbon interaction free energies for these two liquid-crystalline structures. There is notable success in describing the transition between the two forms as well as in the following changes in size within a phase. Extension of the present work to biological materials is suggested.