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Self-assembly in sugar–oil complex glasses

Nature Materials volume 6, pages 287–290 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

In aqueous systems, the hydrophobic effect drives the self-assembly of amphiphiles into a broad range of micellar, rod-like, bicontinuous and liquid-crystalline complex fluids. Many of these are relevant to biological matter or technological applications. However, amphiphilic self-assembly is not limited to aqueous systems. Replacement of water with supercritical carbon dioxide, for example, results in complex fluids that combine the properties of gases and liquids1. Along this vein, we explore the self-assembly of surfactants in anhydrous sugars. Our study reveals that anhydrous powders of sugars and surfactants suspended in oil spontaneously form molten glasses with nanometre-size domains of sugar and liquid oil without mixing. The low cost, water solubility, low toxicity and stabilizing properties of glassy sugars make them ideal water replacements for many pharmaceutical, food and materials synthesis applications. The optical clarity and solid appearance of these glasses at room temperature belie their inclusion of more than 50% (vol.) oil, which confers liquid-like diffusivity. The unique combination of solid- and liquid-like properties may lead to applications in sensors and optical devices.

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Figure 1: Spontaneous formation of a microemulsion glass.
Figure 2: Phase diagrams for molten sugar–limonene microemulsion glasses at 365 K.
Figure 3: SANS spectra of solid microemulsion glasses at room temperature corresponding to compositions F, E and C in the phase diagram shown in Fig. 2a.
Figure 4: MRI imaging and self-diffusion coefficient measurement of microemulsion glasses.

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Acknowledgements

This work was made possible through grants from Givaudan Flavors Corporation, the National Science Foundation (CTS#0548364) and small-angle neutron-diffractometer beam time at Argonne National Laboratory supported by the Department of Energy (W-31-109-ENG-38).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio 45221-0012, USA

    Hiteshkumar Dave, Feng Gao, Chia-Chi Ho & Carlos C. Co

  2. Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio 45267-0586, USA

    Jing-Huei Lee

  3. Department of Chemical Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado 80401-1887, USA

    Matthew Liberatore

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  1. Hiteshkumar Dave
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Correspondence to Carlos C. Co.

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Dave, H., Gao, F., Lee, JH. et al. Self-assembly in sugar–oil complex glasses. Nature Mater 6, 287–290 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1864

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