Abstract
Because the factors favoring the formation of well-formed single crystals are dissimilar to those conducive to gel formation, few examples of single-crystal structural characterizations of organogelators are found in the literature. A series of biphenyl methyl and ethyl diester derivatives of varying chain length were synthesized and their gelation abilities explored. X-ray diffraction of single crystals of one of the gelators reveals a columnar extended structure. Based on XRD results for xerogels obtained from the reported organogelators, the members of the series are isostructural and so also adopt a columnar superstructure. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used for the investigation of the morphology of the xerogels, which display either platelet-like morphologies or more typical entangled twisted ribbon-like aggregates. The gels exhibit chirality, which depends on the sol-gel transition history, as observed by induced circular dichroism (ICD) spectroscopy.
Highlights
The study of molecular gels continues to be of much interest in the field of soft matter science as observed by the large number of citations reported in the literature [1]
Compounds with the longest alkyl chain, 5 and 6, were stronger gelators in the range of solvents tested. This observation is consistent with other reported studies where variation in the structure of the linkers of gelator molecules alters their aggregation and gelation ability [25,26]. n-Octanol proved to be the best solvent for gelation as the strongest gels were formed with almost all gelators (Compounds 1, 3–6)
These results are in agreement with the observation that cholesteryl derivatives have a strong tendency to self-aggregate due to van der Waals interactions, but our results show that the interactions between the linkers are an important contributor to the formation and stability of the gel
Summary
The study of molecular gels continues to be of much interest in the field of soft matter science as observed by the large number of citations reported in the literature [1]. Zhou and co-workers recently reported a series of two-component organogelators consisting of a triamide moiety and three trans-azobenzene groups located on the edge of the molecule [16]. These gelators are able to form photoactive organogels, which. Among the types of effective low molecular mass organic gelators (LMOGs) found in different investigations are Aromatic Linker Steroid (ALS), and A(LS) , where A is an aromatic moiety, L a methylene chain linker and S a steroidal unit. Xerogels obtained from the organogels were examined by SEM and XRD
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