title: Theory of self-assembly of lipid bilayers and vesicles.
abstract: A simple theory is developed that explains the formation of bilayers and vesicles and accounts quantitatively for many of their physical properties: Properties including vesicle size distributions and bilayer elasticity emerge from a unified theory that links thermodynamics, interaction free energy, and molecular geometry. The theory may be applied to the analysis of more complicated membrane structures and mechanisms.
mesh_terms: D008081:Liposomes; D008433:Mathematics; D008823:Micelles; D008956:Models, Chemical; D010713:Phosphatidylcholines; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D008081:Liposomes; D008823:Micelles; D010713:Phosphatidylcholines