title: A novel lyotropic liquid crystal formed by triphilic star-polyphiles: hydrophilic/oleophilic/fluorophilic rods arranged in a 12.6.4. tiling.
abstract: Triphilic star-polyphiles are short-chain oligomeric molecules with a radial arrangement of hydrophilic, hydrocarbon and fluorocarbon chains linked to a common centre. They form a number of liquid crystalline structures when mixed with water. In this contribution we focus on a hexagonal liquid crystalline mesophase found in star-polyphiles as compared to the corresponding double-chain surfactant to determine whether the hydrocarbon and fluorocarbon chains are in fact demixed in these star-polyphile systems, or whether both hydrocarbon and fluorocarbon chains are miscible, leading to a single hydrophobic domain, making the star-polyphile effectively amphiphilic. We report SANS contrast variation data that are compatible only with the presence of three distinct immiscible domains within this hexagonal mesophase, confirming that these star-polyphile liquid crystals are indeed hydrophilic/oleophilic/fluorophilic 3-phase systems. Quantitative comparison with scattering simulations shows that the experimental data are in very good agreement with an underlying 2D columnar (12.6.4) tiling. As in a conventional amphiphilic hexagonal mesophase, the hexagonally packed water channels (dodecagonal prismatic domains) are embedded in a hydrophobic matrix, but that matrix is split into oleophilic hexagonal prismatic domains and fluorophilic quadrangular prismatic domains.
authors.affiliation: Applied Mathematics, Research School of Physical Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. stephen.hyde@anu.edu.au
authors.forename: Liliana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: de Campo
authors.forename: Trond
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Varslot
authors.forename: Minoo J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Moghaddam
authors.forename: Jacob J K
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Kirkensgaard
authors.forename: Kell
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mortensen
authors.forename: Stephen T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Hyde
mesh_terms: D005466:Fluorocarbons / Q000737:chemistry; D006838:Hydrocarbons / Q000737:chemistry; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D050866:Liquid Crystals / Q000737:chemistry*; D033363:Neutron Diffraction; D053838:Scattering, Small Angle; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
chemical_list: D005466:Fluorocarbons; D006838:Hydrocarbons; D014867:Water