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Updated: Jun 22, 2026

From Molecules to Materials: Engineering New Ionic Liquid Crystals Through Halogen Bonding
Published on: March 24, 2018
Syntheses, amphitropic liquid crystallinity, and surface activity of new inositol-based amphiphiles
Dirk Blunk1, Nils Bongartz, Cosima Stubenrauch
1Universitat zu Koln, Institut fur Organische Chemie, Greinstrasse 4, 50939 Koln, Germany. d.blunk@uni-koeln.de
Abstract:
Carbohydrates are interesting starting materials for scientific and industrial syntheses as they allow a versatile chemistry. Moreover, they are of natural origin and environmentally benign. During the past few years, inositol, a rather "exotic" carbohydrate, and its derivatives have gained increasing attention. Here, we describe the syntheses of new regiochemically defined inositol monoethers and monoesters as well as regioisomeric inositol ester mixtures and investigate their amphitropic liquid crystallinity. Furthermore, first results on their surface activity in aqueous solutions are given and compared with classical sugar surfactants.
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