Prediction of the critical micelle concentrations of mono- and di-acyl phospholipids.

The experimental linear chainlength dependence of the logarithm of the critical micelle concentration (ln [CMC]) of mono- and di-acyl phosphatidylcholines, together with recent measurements of the polar headgroup dependence of the CMCs of a variety of spin-labelled phospholipids, and the relative solubilities of saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons, have been combined to devise a scheme for making general predictions of the CMCs of both mono- and di-acyl phospholipids, such as are found in biological membranes.