ABSTRACT
Phospholipids occur in nature as an important class of biomolecules. Structurally, they consist of three components-a polar head, one or more hydrophobic tails, and a backbone linking the two parts. Given the versatility of the head and tail regions, lipids are classi™ed based on their backbone. —e amphiphilicity of lipids drives their self-assembly in solution. —ey can assume several shapes based on their structure, concentration, and temperature. Common lamellar and non-lamellar self-assembled structures are shown in Figure 7.1 (Collier and Messersmith 2001). Lamellar bilayers are formed when the hydrophobic alkyl chains are too bulky to ™t within a circular micelle, otherwise a non-lamellar conformation is assumed.
