Issue 33, 2013

Inverse Pm[3 with combining macron]n cubic micellar lyotropic phases from zwitterionic triazolium gemini surfactants

Abstract

Inverse lyotropic liquid crystal phases comprising spatially-limited aqueous nanodomains have potentially wide-ranging applications, including the encapsulation and selective delivery of small molecules and as aqueous nanoreactors for molecular catalysis. We report the aqueous self-assembly of two homologous, zwitterionic bis(alkyltriazolium sulfobetaine) gemini surfactants into previously unknown inverse cubic micellar phases with Pm[3 with combining macron]n symmetry (space group #223). Using temperature-dependent X-ray scattering, we demonstrate that these highly ordered, inverse discontinuous micellar phases are stable over remarkably wide amphiphile concentration windows between T = 30–90 °C at ambient pressure. These observations suggest that the packing arrangements adopted by structurally anisotropic gemini surfactants enable ready access to only the third known inverse micellar lyotropic phase, and the first one to exhibit a tetrahedral close-packing of inverse micelles.

Graphical abstract: Inverse Pm [[3 with combining macron]] n cubic micellar lyotropic phases from zwitterionic triazolium gemini surfactants

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
03 May 2013
Accepted
12 Jul 2013
First published
15 Jul 2013

Soft Matter, 2013,9, 7919-7922

Inverse Pm[3 with combining macron]n cubic micellar lyotropic phases from zwitterionic triazolium gemini surfactants

D. V. Perroni and M. K. Mahanthappa, Soft Matter, 2013, 9, 7919 DOI: 10.1039/C3SM51238J

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