Self-assembly and Mechanism of L-Alanine-based Dihydrazide Derivative as Excellent Gelator of Organic Solvents

Abstract

A new organogelator, L-Alanine dihydrazide derivative can self-assemble in various organic solvents and turned them into thermally reversible physical supramolecular organogels at extremely low concentrations (< 2 wt %). The gel-sol phase transition temperatures (<TEX>$T_{GS}$</TEX>) were determined as a function of gelator concentration and the corresponding enthalpies (<TEX>${\Delta}H_g$</TEX>) were extracted. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) measurements revealed that the interspaces of fiber-like network structures were diminished with the increasing of the LMOG concentration. FT-IR spectroscopy studies revealed that hydrogen-bonding and hydrophobic interaction were the driving forces for the formation of the gels. Based on the data of XRD and molecular modeling, the possible packing modes for the formation of organogelator aggregates were proposed.