A Comprehensive Study on Lyotropic Liquid-Crystalline Behavior of an Amphiphile in 20 Kinds of Amino Acid Ionic Liquids.

We examined the self-organization behavior of a designed amphiphilic molecule in 20 kinds of amino acid ionic liquids composed of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium cation and natural amino acid anion ([C4mim][AA]). Addition of [C4mim][AA], regardless of their anion species, to the amphiphile provided homogeneous mixtures showing lyotropic liquid-crystalline (LC) behavior. Upon increasing the component ratio of [C4mim][AA] in the mixtures, a successive change of the mesophase patterns from inverted hexagonal columnar, in some case via bicontinuous cubic, to layered phases was observed. By examining the LC properties at various temperatures and component ratios, we constructed lyotropic LC phase diagrams. Interestingly, the appearance of these phase diagrams is greatly different according to the selection of [AA]. Through comparison, we found that the self-organization behavior of an amphiphile in ionic liquids can be tuned by controlling their ability to form hydrogen-bond, van der Waals, and π-π interactions.