Mesophases of surfactant

Lyotropic LCs can also be described by a simple model. Such molecules usually possess the amphiphilic nature characteristic of surfactant, consisting of a polar head and one or several aliphatic chains. A representative example is sodium stearate (soap), which forms mesophases in aqueous solutions (Figure 8.4a). In lyotropic mesophases, not only does temperature play an important role, but also the solvent, the number of components in the solution and their concentration. Depending on these factors, different types of micelles can be formed. Three representative types of micelles are presented in Figure 8.4b-d. 

In binary mixtures of water, surfactants, or lipids the most common structure is the gyroid one, G, existing usually on the phase diagram between the hexagonal and lamellar mesophases. This structure has been observed in a very large number of surfactant systems [13-16,24—27] and in the computer simulations of surfactant systems [28], The G phase is found at rather high surfactant concentrations, usually much above 50% by weight. 

These micellar cubic mesophases require large surface curvature and low charge density. Their formation is thus favored by the use of surfactant molecules with large polar head group, and acidic conditions under which the charge density at the silicate/surfactant is always limited. The fact that this phase can be prepared with CTAB when PTES is present, suggests the existence of specific interactions between the phenyl groups and the polar head of the surfactant molecules. It was indeed reported that benzene molecules are preferably located at the hydrophilic-hydrophobic interface [29]. 

The state of the hydrocarbon chains in mesophases and micelles is reflected in the Krafft phenomena. In aqueous solutions of surfactants the Krafft point is defined as the temperature at which the solubility reaches the critical micelle concentration when the temperature is increased further, the solubility rises rapidly since the monomers form micelles (Figure 5) (10). Lipids that do not form micelles frequently start to swell by the uptake of water at a well-defined temperature they are transformed into a mesomorphous state (Figure 6) (11) The relation between these two Krafft phenomena is explained to some extent by the... 

Incorporation of both functionalities is also confirmed by 13C ll MAS NMR. -CH2-CH2- bridges are represented by the broad resonance at 2-5 ppm, while -CH=CH- units are found at 147 ppm. Importantly, 13C 111 MAS NMR spectra also indicate the template in the BTSE-silica and BTSEY-silica mesophases is in the disordered gauche conformation as the peak attributable to the inner chain methylenes is observed at 31.0ppm. C 1 MAS NMR spectra of the extracted PMOs show only the broad resonances corresponding to -CH2-CH2- or Cl I CI I units proving the removal of surfactant template. 

The complex formation of PECs and PE-surfs is closely linked to self-assembly processes. A major difference between PECs and PE-surfs can be found in their solid-state structures. PE-surfs show typically highly ordered mesophases in the solid state [15] which is in contrast to the ladder and scrambled-egg structures of PECs [2]. Reasons for the high ordering of PE-surfs are i) cooperative binding phenomena of the surfactant molecules onto the polyelectrolyte chains [16-18] and ii) the amphiphilicity of the surfactant molecules. A further result of the cooperative zipper mechanism between a polyelectrolyte and oppositely charged surfactant molecules is a 1 1 stoichiometry. The amphiphilicity of surfactants favors a microphase separation in PE-surfs that results in periodic nanostructures with repeat units of 1 to 10 nm. By contrast, structures of PECs normally display no such periodic nanostructures. 

Recently reported meso- and macroscale self-assembly approaches conducted, respectively, in the presence of surfactant mesophases [134-136] and colloidal sphere arrays [137] are highly promising for the molecular engineering of novel catalytic mixed metal oxides. These novel methods offer the possibility to control surface and bulk chemistry (e.g. the V oxidation state and P/V ratios), wall nature (i.e. amorphous or nanocrystalline), morphology, pore structures and surface areas of mixed metal oxides. Furthermore, these novel catalysts represent well-defined model systems that are expected to lead to new insights into the nature of the active and selective surface sites and the mechanism of n-butane oxidation. In this section, we describe several promising synthesis approaches to VPO catalysts, such as the self-assembly of mesostructured VPO phases, the synthesis of macroporous VPO phases, intercalation and pillaring of layered VPO phases and other methods. 

Mixtures of surfactant and water form a number of different physical structures, depending on the surfactant water ratio and the temperature. These mixtures are frequently opalescent dispersions, called liquid crystals, but are more properly termed mesophases. In publications on the subject these are usually shown as phase diagrams with temperature as the y-axis and percent water on the x-axis the interior of the graph is divided into regions that represent the various... 

Figure 15. Three mesophasic crystalline structures found in studies of surfactants (16).

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