Organogels formed from novel organic gelators containing a cholesterol tethered to squaraine dyes or
trans-stilbene derivatives have been studied from several different perspectives. The two types of molecules
are active toward several organic liquids, gelling in some cases at w/w percentages as low as 0.1. While
relatively robust, macroscopically “dry” gels are formed in several cases, studies with a variety of probes
indicate that much of the solvent may exist in domains that are essentially liquid-like in terms of their
microenvironment. The gels have been imaged by atomic force microscopy and conventional and fluorescence
microscopy, monitoring both the gelator fluorescence in the case of the stilbene−cholesterol gels and, the
fluorescence of solutes dissolved in the solvent. Remarkably, our findings show that several of the gels
are composed of similarly appearing fibrous structures visible at the nano-, micro-, and macroscale.
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