The synthesis and characterisation of novel long chain dimethyl siloxane surfactants.

A basic introduction to liquid crystals and surfactants has been given, along with a description of the main techniques employed in the study of liquid crystals (in particular optical polarising microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction studies). Conventional surfactants comprise a polar head group and a hydrophobic, hydrocarbon chain ie. they are amphiphilic. Because long chains have high melting points the length of the alkyl chain in these compounds is limited to