Monolayer organization modelling using molecular dynamics

Many experiments have highlighted the existence of an unexpected long-range attractive force between two hydrophilic or hydrophobic monolayers, immers ed in water or in nonaqueous solvents. The origin of this attraction has no t been discovered yet. A mechanism responsible for these forces may be an i nteraction between ordered domains of the two close monolayers. The occurre nce and characteristics of such domains are related to the nature of their constituting molecules and also their structural organization. We present h ere a molecular analysis, via molecular dynamics simulations, of ordered do mains within a monolayer. We investigate the dependence between the charact eristics of the domains and both the length of the molecules and the layer density.