Layer Spacing Change at Glass Transition of Glycolipid in Liquid Crystalline Phase

Abstract

Recently, the glass-forming ability of glycolipids has attracted attention owing to their specific potent applications based on their high glass transition temperature (T_g). In this study, we investigated on the temperature dependence of layer spacing of liquid crystalline (LC) phase made from a 6-O-hexadecanoyl trehalose monoester (TME16) across temperatures straddling T_g. We found that the effect of thermal history disappeared and the longest layer spacing were observed above the T_g of TME16. Thus, several novel insights into the glass transition behavior of glycolipids were shown.