Synthesis, Characterization, and Utilization of Polyol Amphiphile Molecules

186 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1998.Polyol amphiphiles were synthesized with various hydroxyl chain lengths and hydrophobic moieties, including oleyl and oligo(styrene). These novel amphiphiles are predictably hygroscopic, forming lyotropic liquid crystals upon exposure to water. The resulting lamellar and hexagonal mesophases were characterized by a variety of techniques including small angle x-ray scattering and polarized optical microscopy. Interestingly, the polyol amphiphiles also formed anisotropic phases in the neat state, although of lower order than hydrated phases. In addition, the aqueous mesophases have been utilized in the synthesis of nanostructured semiconductors via direct templating methods recently developed in our group. In general, this methodology allows the formation of nanostructured inorganic materials that replicate the distribution of amphiphile segments within the templating mesophase.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD