Sample preparation. We explored mixed compositions of seven (7) different 10-carbon amphiphiles (Chart 1). These amphiphiles were chosen as they represent a chemically interesting set of headgroups, both polar and charged, and are short enough to be considered prebiotically relevant. These amphiphiles are also relatively inexpensive and available from Stock solutions were prepared as 50 mM of decanoic acid (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Agawam, MA, USA), decylamine (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Agawam, MA USA), decyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (DTAB; TCI, Portland, OR, USA), were prepared in 70% ethanol. Decanoate was prepared from decanoic acid in 0.1 M NaOH. Using a serial dilution, 10 mM and 2 mM stock solutions were prepared from the 50 mM and 10 mM solution respectively. The same process was followed to prepare 50 mM, 10 mM, and 2 mM of decyl sodium sulfate (Chem-Impex Int'l Inc, Wood Dale, IL, USA) in deionized water. Decanol (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Agawam, MA, USA) was brought up in 70% ethanol at concentrations of 15 mM and 3 mM. Glycerol monodecanoate (TCI, Portland, OR, USA) was dissolved in 70% ethanol and brought to concentrations of 10 mM and 2 mM. Samples were prepared by using an Opentrons OT-2 liquid handling robot (Brooklyn, NY, USA) 31 to dispense stock solutions into 96-well SBS microplates. We verified that the use of 70% ethanol solutions was reliable in the liquid handler as shown in Figure .