Crystallization from lipidic mesophase matrices is a promising route to diffraction-quality crystals and structures of membrane proteins. The microfluidic approach reported here eliminates two bottlenecks of the standard mesophase-based crystallization protocols: (i) manual preparation of viscous mesophases and (ii) manual harvesting of often small and fragile protein crystals. In the approach ...

A novel family of square-planar Pd(ii) complexes based on isoquinoline-functionalised pyrazolate ligands [Pd(pzR(n,n)iq)2] (R(n,n) = C6H3(OCnH2n+1)2, n = 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18) has been synthesised and characterised. The new complexes show mesomorphic properties and exhibit columnar mesophases that are highly-stable in exceptionally wide temperature ranges of up to 345 °C. The formation o...

Photoisomerization-induced phase transition of neat liquid-crystalline azobenzene chromophore (LCAC) and its effect on phase diagrams of its mixtures with reactive mesogenic diacrylate monomer (RM257) have been investigated experimentally and theoretically. Upon irradiation with ultraviolet light, the nematic phase of LCAC transformed to isotropic, while the crystal phase showed corrugated text...

Maintaining the intrinsic features of mesophases is critically important when employing phospholipid self-assemblies to mimic biomembranes. Inorganic solid surfaces provide platforms to support, guide, and analyze organic self-assemblies but impose upon them a tendency to form well-ordered phases not often found in biomembranes. To address this, we measured mesophase formation in a thiolate sel...

Zirconium oxide (ZrO2) has generated wide interest because of its potential in applications such as solid oxide fuel cells, catalysts and optical devices. In these applications, it is important to control the grain size of the material and increase the surface area by introducing porosity with tailored pore size. This paper presents a synthesis route for the preparation of mesoporous zirconia u...

In this chapter, a comprehensive review over the entire reserarch on liquid crystalline crown ethers since their discovery will be given. Monomeric and polymeric molecules containing crown ethers as well as aza crown ethers, thia crown ethers and crown ethers with several different heteroatoms will be presented. Liquid crystallinity is, in most cases, caused by the substituents attached to the ...

Small-angle scattering (SAS) is a versatile analytical technique that provides detailed structural information from sample at the length scale of nanometers. In this overview, we discuss basic principles SAS and diverse applications in characterization pharmaceutical materials. Examples include identification liquid-crystalline mesophase drugs, influence excipient microstructure on final produc...