Aspects of self- and cross-association hydrophobicity in a single chain binary mixture. A computer study.

The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) traces for binary mixtures of single chain amphiphiles present more than one transition temperature, while the traces for pure single chain amphiphiles have a single (or at most two) transition temperature(s). These secondary transition temperatures can appear owing to the selective association processes between the components of the lipid mixtures. This paper presents an attempt to examine theoretically the association of single chain amphiphiles between (a) two identical molecules (self-association) and (b) two different molecules (cross-association). Association probabilities, the mean association probabilities and the overall ratio of efficiency, were evaluated for 36 binary mixtures of single chain amphiphiles. A test system for evaluation of differential effects of the hydrophobic chain length on the mean association probabilities was considered. Self-association of longer hydrophobic chains and cross-association phenomena show a high probability compared with the self-association of shorter hydrophobic chains. We found that "the efficacious length of association" in a binary mixture of single chain amphiphiles is 8 methylene groups.