Room temperature thermotropic liquid crystalline phases of catanionic surfactants derived from quaternary ammonium surfactants and bis(2-ethylhexyl)sulfosuccinate.

Hypothesis: Properties of catanionic surfactants can be tailored by the choice of appropriate headgroups and hydrocarbon tails. Thermal behavior of catanionic surfactants can be influenced by the length and number of alkyl chains.

Experiments: A series of eight catanionic surfactants were synthesized from quaternary ammonium surfactants as the cationic counterpart and bis(2-ethylhexyl)sulfosuccinate (AOT) as the anionic counterpart.