Facile synthesis of optically functional, highly organized nanostructures: dye-surfactant complexes.

Multiply charged dye molecules can be precipitated from water by complexation with oppositely charged surfactants. It is shown that this complex formation occurs with 1:1 stoichiometry in a highly cooperative fashion. The resulting solids show either a gel-like or a supramolecular fibrillar morphology with a very high degree of order on the nanoscale, as evidenced by small-angle X-ray scattering and pleochroic behavior under plane-polarized light.