In spite of the potentially wide-ranging applications of aqueous lyotropic liquid crystals (LLC) with bicontinuous cubic morphologies (Q-phases), amphiphile design criteria that reliably enable formation of these non-constant mean curvature water/surfactant assemblies remain poorly established. Cationic gemini surfactants have recently been shown to exhibit a proclivity to form Q-phases as compared to single-tail amphiphiles. However, the universality of this surfactant design motif in stabilizing Q-phases remains untested. We have recently synthesized and characterized the aqueous self-assembly behavior of a new class of anionic gemini surfactants derived from long-chain fatty acids and revealed their unexpected propensity to form Q-phases, especially, gyroid and primitive (�Plumber's Nightmare�) structures over amphiphile concentration windows up to 20 wt% wide. In the context of our studies of how systematic variations of the surfactant structures affect their aqueous self-assembly, we provide new insights into the delicate force balance that enables the aqueous self-assembly of these molecules into complex lyotropic phases.

Unusual aqueous lyotropic phase behavior of gemini dicarboxylate surfactants

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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