These configurations were chosen based on the X-ray scattering study by Martin-Bertelsen et al., which showed that MMG analogs self-assemble into poorly hydrated lamellar structures at low temperatures. We used double bilayer configurations to represent these structures, because they have been shown to contain little or no water. 11 The single bilayer configuration was included to allow comparison of different hydration states. All systems contained one of the two analogs as a 1:1 mixture of two stereoisomers. System sizes were selected to allow for an accurate representation of possible interdigitation or membrane rippling in the non-interdigitated membranes. Finite size effects are known to quench certain membrane phenomena, e.g., ripple phase formation and membrane undulations. Moreover, system size has been shown to affect the extent of stretch-induced interdigitation with united atom MD simulations. Therefore, all membranes were configured to contain 500 MMG molecules per leaflet, with two leaflets in the single bilayer system, and four leaflets in the non-interdigitated and interdigitated double bilayer systems. The membranes were built with Packmol 28 and solvated using gmx solvate after increasing the box size by 3 nm along the z-axis on both sides of the membrane. Any water molecules added to the hydrocarbon membrane core were subsequently removed.