Inorganic–Organic Hybrid Surfactant Crystals: Structural Aspects and Functions

Hybrid single crystals consisting of an organic surfactant and an inorganic moiety are promising functional materials. Layered crystals composed from alternate inorganic and surfactant layers are obtained by the template effect of long alkyl chain moiety. The composition, crystal packing, and molecular arrangement of the hybrid single crystals are controllable by changing the inorganic constituent and the surfactant molecular structure. The types of hybrid surfactant single crystals are twofold: (i) crystals consisting of discrete inorganic cation coordinated by ligands having amphiphilic moiety; and (ii) crystals comprising a surfactant cation and a discrete inorganic anion including polyoxometalate (POM) oxide clusters. The POM-surfactant hybrid single crystals are rather rare, and therefore promising as unprecedented functional materials. Their structural variation and functional properties are discussed.