Lipid bilayer thickness varies linearly with acyl chain length in fluid phosphatidylcholine vesicles.

The thickness of the lipid bilayer in vesicles made of pure phosphatidylcholines, with acyl chain lengths ranging from 10 to 24 carbons, has been determined by analysis of continuous X-ray scattering data from vesicle pellets at temperatures above the lipid phase transition temperature. Bilayer thickness was found to vary linearly with the number of carbons per acyl chain. The lines for saturated and monounsaturated acyl chains were slightly displaced but had similar slopes. For the saturated species di-12:0, di-14:0, di-16:0, and di-18:0 phosphatidylcholine the surface areas per molecule were all 65.7 to 66.5 A2, while the monounsaturated species and di-10:0 phosphatidylcholine all occupied 67.7 to 70.1 A2 per molecule.