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Updated: May 26, 2026

From Molecules to Materials: Engineering New Ionic Liquid Crystals Through Halogen Bonding
Published on: March 24, 2018
Nonaqueous lyotropic liquid-crystalline phases formed by gemini surfactants in a protic ionic liquid
Xudong Wang1, Xiao Chen, Yurong Zhao
1Key Laboratory of Colloid and Interface Chemistry, Shandong University, Ministry of Education, Jinan 250100, China.
Abstract:
The aggregation behaviors of three Gemini surfactants [(C(s)H(2s)-α,ω-(Me(2)N(+)C(m)H(2m+1)Br(-))(2), s = 2, m = 10, 12, 14] in a protic ionic liquid, ethylammonium nitrate (EAN), have been investigated. The polarized optical microscopy and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) measurements are used to explore the lyotropic liquid crystal (LLC) formation. Compared to the LLCs formed in aqueous environment, the normal hexagonal and lamellar phases disappear. However, with increasing the surfactant concentration, a new reverse hexagonal phase (H(II)) can be mapped over a large temperature range except for other ordered aggregates including the isotropic solution phase and a two-phase coexistence region. The structural parameters of the H(II) are calculated from the corresponding SAXS patterns, showing the influence of surfactant amount, alkyl chain length, and temperature. Meanwhile, the rheological profiles indicate a typical Maxwell behavior of the LLC phases formed in EAN.
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