Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mphil-in-micro-and-nanotechnology-enterprise-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2019/paper-2/section-b/23/ii/solution
Past exam of the MPhil in micro- and nanotechnology enterprise course of the University of Cambridge 2019 Paper 2 Section B 23 ii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-20
For ideal spherical micelles, and , giving . For a long cylindrical micelle, , so cylinders can accommodate larger packing parameters while keeping : roughly favours cylinders. Relatively small head area or greater tail volume reduces positive curvature.
For a planar bilayer leaflet of hydrophobic thickness , , with . Thus favours bilayer/vesicle structures, with nearly planar bilayers toward . The two leaflets put hydrophobic tails together and hydrophilic heads toward water. For , inverse structures become possible. These bounds are approximate packing guides; chain stretching, head interactions and aggregate free energy determine actual phase boundaries.
[ref]
Theory of self-assembly of hydrocarbon amphiphiles by Jacob N. Israelachvili and others. General micelle/bilayer geometrical packing model
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