Thermotropic liquid crystals from biomacromolecules.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Liu K
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4284556 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Dec
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Thermotropic liquid crystals from biomacromolecules.
Liu Kai K Chen Dong D Marcozzi Alessio A Zheng Lifei L Su Juanjuan J Pesce Diego D Zajaczkowski Wojciech W Kolbe Anke A Pisula Wojciech W Müllen Klaus K Clark Noel A NA Herrmann Andreas A
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20141215 52
Complexation of biomacromolecules (e.g., nucleic acids, proteins, or viruses) with surfactants containing flexible alkyl tails, followed by dehydration, is shown to be a simple generic method for the production of thermotropic liquid crystals. The anhydrous smectic phases that result exhibit biomacromolecular sublayers intercalated between aliphatic hydrocarbon sublayers at or near room temperature. Both this and low transition temperatures to other phases enable the study and application of the ...[more]
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