Phase diagram of a ternary mixture of cholesterol and saturated and unsaturated lipids calculated from a microscopic model

R. Elliott*, I. Szleifer, M. Schick

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

69 Scopus citations

Abstract

We employ a molecular model to study a ternary mixture of saturated lipid, with tails of 16 carbons, a monounsaturated lipid with tails of 18 carbons, and cholesterol. The model, solved within mean-field theory, produces several forms of phase diagrams depending upon the relative strengths of interactions, but only one that shows the coexistence of two liquid phases observed in experiment. The lipids in the phase rich in cholesterol are more ordered than those in the other. The binary cholesterol, saturated lipid system also exhibits liquid, liquid coexistence.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number098101
JournalPhysical review letters
Volume96
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - 2006

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Physics and Astronomy

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