Interaction free energies of eight sodium salts and a phosphatidylcholine membrane.

Many recent reports have discussed specific effects of anions on the properties of lipid membranes and possible roles of such effects within biochemistry. One key parameter in both theoretical and experimental treatments of membrane-salt interactions is the net affinity, that is, the free energy of interaction. This parameter has been analyzed theoretically and by modeling of experimental data but not directly measured even for simple salt-membrane systems.