The unusual self-organising behaviour of a glycosteroidal bolaphile

In this communication we report on the self-organising properties of a novel asymmetric bolaphile composed of sugar and steroidal units. The material was found to exhibit unusual phase changes in that it formed a cubic phase upon heating, whereas upon cooling it formed a lamellar phase. This change in property was ascribed to kinetic versus thermodynamic behaviour at the phase transition to the liquid.