Abstract:

A review. Liq. crystal (LC) science and technol. have made important contributions to nanoscience and nanotechnol. in areas such as medical diagnostics, drug-delivery, and high-tech devices. Their main nanotechnol. contribution is their ability to provide new synthetic procedures and the self-assembly of nanoscale materials with controlled uniformity of size, shape, and dimensionality. The self-assembly of the liq. cryst. systems, particularly of the lyotropic LC type, enables the incorporation of lipophilic and hydrophilic reagents that meet to react at the interface. Therefore the properties of reactions and products are governed by the host system and by the external conditions which directly affect the LC host or template. This article attempts to present an overview of current research in the fields of synthesis and self-assembly of nanomaterials using mainly lyotropic LCs, and partially thermotropic LCs, as direct and reverse templates. [on SciFinder(R)]