Inverse Pm
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 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