Inverse hexagonal mesophase

In addition to the cubic and/or inverse cubic forms described above, further transitional forms exist between the lamellar phase and the hexagonal mesophase (cubic, type II) or inverse hexagonal mesophase (cubic, type III) [6]. In contrast to the discontinuous phases of types I and IV, cubic mesophases of type II and III belong to the bieontinuous phases (Fig. 4f). A range of lyotropic mesophases are possible, depending on the mesogen concentration, the lipophilic or hydrophilic characteristics of the solvent, and the molecule itself [6]. 

Note 4 The lyotropic equivalent of a columnar hexagonal mesophase is known as a hexagonal mesophase in it, columns of amphiphilic molecules are surrounded by the solvent, normally water, or an oil in an inverse hexagonal mesophase. 

In a very recent study we examined theoretically the structure of water inside the water cylinder of inverse hexagonal mesophase (Hu) of monoolein (GMO). using methods of Molecular Dynamics. Due to the complex geometry of the system, a novel method for obtaining the distribution of water at the initial moment of calculation process is developed and applied. The initial density of water was obtained by fitting the final results within predictor-corrector scheme. 

Figure C2.3.13. Nonnal (H, left) and inverse (H, right) hexagonal mesophases composed of rodlike micelles.

The study by low-angle X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy of concentrated solutions of the copolymers in preferential solvents for polybutadiene (iso-prene, butadiene) or for poly(a-methyl styrene) (styrene, a-methylstyrene, methyl methacrylate, methylethyl ketone) and of copolymers in the dry state obtained by slow evaporation of the solvent from the mesophases have shown the existence of three types of structure hexagonal, lamellar, and inverse hexagonal depending upon the copolymer composition84,85. The factors governing the structural type and the structural parameters are the same as in the case of polystyrene-polybutadiene copolymers85. ... 

Non-lamellar lipid mesophases (Fig. 4) may also be identified by their characteristic small-angle diffraction pattern. The structure of the inverse hexagonal lipid-water mesophase (denoted as Hu) is based on cylindrical water rods, which are surrounded by lipid monolayers. The rods are packed in a two-dimensional hexagonal lattice with Bragg peaks positioned at... 

Fig. 4. Schematic drawing of lipid-water mesophases (Lc, lamellar crystalline Lps Pp., lamellar gel L , lamellar liquid-crystalline Qn, Qn°, Qn , inverse bicontinuous cubics Hu, inverse hexagonal). The cubic phases are represented by the G, D, and P minimal surfaces, which locate the midplanes of fluid hpid bilayers.

Lyotropic mesophases usually formed from such substances are beside the lamellar phase the inverse hexagonal and different types of inverse cubic phases. Nanoparticles based on lamellar structures ((multilamellar) vesicles, liposomes) will not be... 

Such molecules exhibit columnar mesophases and smectic C phases. In contrast to the corresponding tetracatenar compounds described above, the columnar phase is, in most of these swallow-tailed compounds, the low temperature phase with respect to the smectic C phase [58]. This inversion of thermotropic sequence with respect to the biforked compounds described just above has not found any explanation in relation with molecular parameters. The symmetry of the columnar two-dimensional lattice is found to be hexagonal, oblique and even rectangular [59] in some cases. For the latter case, the model proposed involves several molecules packed side by side to form the lattice unit, the different moieties being packed alternately in order to form a two-dimensional centred cell as shown in Fig. 11. 

In the presence of water, surfactants and lipids give rise to a variety of phases referred to as lyotropic phases or mesophases.i The most important of these phases are the lamellar, hexagonal, cubic micellar, and cubic bicontinuous phases denoted by L, H and V, and Q, respectively (see Figure 1.11 in Chapter 1). The subscripts 1 or 2 attached to these phase symbols indicate that the phase is direct (water continuous) or inverse (discontinuous water domains). Many other lyotropic phases have been identified that differ from the main ones by the state of the alkyl chain (crystalline or disordered) and of the head group arrangement (ordered or disordered). In the particular case of the lamellar phase, additional variations come from the possible different orientations adopted by the alkyl chains with respect to the plane of the lamellae (angle of tilt of the chain) and also from the state of the surface of the lamellae that can be planar or rippled. Numerous detailed descriptions have been given for the equilibrium state of the various phases that surfactants and lipids can form in the presence of water. 

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