Cubic phases of amphiphilic molecular aggregates

Stability and geometry of the lyotropic periodic cubic mesophases are consi dered in the framework of a general symmetry based phenomenological approac h. A limited number of cubic structural types is shown to be formed by amph iphilic molecular aggregates: due to the specific nature of self-organizing units, The related thermodynamic models predict topology of phase diagrams and specific features of transitions between isotropic, lamellar, cubic bi continuous and cubic micellar phases.