A difference in the shapes of intermolecular potentials between phospholipid model molecules. Relation to the ripple phase

Abstract

Intermolecular van der Waals energy maps are calculated for three model molecules of phospholipids to demonstrate the effect of the head size of a molecule on its steric properties. The calculation of internal energy, including van der Waals and Coulomb interaction of model bilayers, gives the possible relation to the existence of the ripple phase.