Controlling the nano-scale order in materials and the
propagation of this order up to the meso- and macroscopic
scale constitutes one of the most significant advancements in
materials research. Materials with morphologies on the
nanometer size scale have shown promise in the synthesis of
biological membrane mimics, the separation and purification of
biomolecules, drug delivery device, stabilization of organic
zeolites for catalysis, and nanocomposites. Lyotropic liquid
crystalline materials exhibit considerable promise for such
applications as they possess a wide range of unique
nanostructure
mesophases
with
well-ordered
periodic
nanodomains. We are currently exploiting the effect of
polymeric structure on the formation of lyotropic liquid
crystalline phases. Moreover, the design and synthesis of highly
specific molecular structure able to recognize a selective target
molecule is one of the key point in this research area. To suit
this purpose, our research group is also working on the
technique of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs). This
technique enables one to prepare robust synthetic receptors by
carrying out polymerization reactions in the presence of a
target molecular substrate (template).
Figure 1 The ideal sequence of phases as a function of water
concentration, and schematics of lyotropic liquid crystalline structures
(adapted from T. Hegmann, H. Qi, and V. M. Marx, J. Inorg.
Organomet. Polym. Mater., 17, 2007).
complexation
Scheme1. Representative illustration of molecularly imprinted polymers.