Self-assembly in sugar glasses

The principal motivation for studying these sugar-based microemulsion glasses came from the observation that water-oil-surfactant mixtures are extensively for nanomaterials synthesis with the central idea of switching dynamic self-assembly into chemically and mechanically stable supramolecular materials. Template polymerisations are classified as synergistic or transcriptive templating depending on whether the template itself participates in the reaction. 

Synergistic templating involves the usage of polymerisable surfactants. The target structure is self-assembled using polymerisable surfactants in solvent (usually water) and then 

Transcriptive templating of self-assembled structures is complicated by the contradictory demands of a template that self-assembles to form over a reasonable period of time and yet robust enough to retain its structure over the course of polymerisation. The thermodynamic forces faced by these templates are complex and practically unavoidable 

7 11 (a) Optically clear microemulsion glass after UV photopolymerisation, (b) Dissolution of the 

F gure temp ate with excess water leaves behind an optically clear and flexible poly-DVB membrane. su° Ref [72] reprinted with permission of the American Chemical Society.) 

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