Deriving binary phase diagrams for chromonic materials in water mixtures via fluorescence spectroscopy: cromolyn and water.

We report here the first example of a new and novel method of determining the binary temperature-composition phase diagram of a chromonic material in water using its intrinsic fluorescence. Disodium cromoglycate, or cromolyn, is an anti-allergy medicine representative of a class of compounds known as the chromonics. We have discovered that cromolyn's fluorescence is very sensitive to the polarity, hence structure, of the phase it exhibits.

Biologically relevant lyotropic liquid crystalline phases in mixtures of n-octyl β-D-glucoside and water. Determination of the phase diagram by fluorescence spectroscopy.

When mixed with water, n-octyl β-D-glucoside forms self-assembled nanostructures, several of which are liquid crystalline and all of which depend on the water/glucoside ratio and temperature. For practical use of these phases, a detailed understanding of the conditions under which they exist (i.e.