A supramolecular gel was constructed by using an imidazolium-based surfactant, N-cetyl-N'-carboxymethyl imidazolium bromide ([N-C16, N'-CO2H-Im]Br), in the DMSO/H2O binary solvent mixtures and investigated as an adsorbent for removing dyes from aqueous solution. The self-assembled gel displays a morphology of microplatelets stacked in bilayer units with interdigitated hydrocarbon tails, and the structure remains unchanged below the sol-gel transition temperature. The gel also exhibits a strong birefringence property and excellent mechanical strength. In particular, the gels show superior performance in removal of anionic dye molecules, for example, removing 80% of eosin Y within 10 min, The constructed gels also present excellent salinity tolerance, even when the concentration of NaCl is 1000 times higher than that of the dye, and can maintain their high efficiency after 25 cycles, indicative of their promise in water treatment.

It is commonly considered that amyloid-b (Ab) fibrils are heavily involved in the neurological diseases. Establishing an external model based on the core recognition motif (diphenylalanine, FF) of Ab would be of significance in understanding the assembly and disassembly of Ab fibrils in living system. Herein, supramolecular gels with structure transition from amyloid-like b-sheet to different supramolecular helices were obtained through the co-assembly of a Nfluorenylmethoxycarbonyl-protected L-FF (L-FmocFF) with achiral pyridine derivatives. It is found that the different stacking modes (H-or J-aggregates) of additives and the microenvironment of chiral carbon play vital roles for the selectively chiral transfer or amplification of L-FmocFF. The dynamic process of helix formation was also captured. This work provides a convenient co-assembly way to explore the structure basis of Ab fibrils with a controlled chirality.

The spherical Lindquist type polyoxometalate, Mo(6)O(19)(2)(-), has been used as a noncoordinating anionic template for the construction of novel three-dimensional lanthanide-aromatic monocarboxylate dimer supramolecular networks [Ln(2)(DNBA)(4)(DMF)(8)][Mo(6)O(19)] (Ln = La 1, Ce 2, and Eu 3, DNBA = 3,5-dinitrobenzoate, DMF = dimethylformamide). The title compounds are characterized by elemental analyses, IR, and single-crystal X-ray diffractions. X-ray diffraction experiments reveal that two Ln(III) ions are bridged by four 3,5-dinitrobenzoate anions as asymmetrically bridging ligands, leading to dimeric cores, [Ln(2)(DNBA)(4)(DMF)(8)](2+); [Ln(2)(DNBA)(4)(DMF)(8)](2+) groups are joined together by pi-pi stacking interactions between the aromatic groups to form a two-dimensional grid-like network; the 2-D supramolecular layers are further extended into 3-D supramolecular networks with 1-D box-like channels by hydrogen-bonding interactions, in which hexamolybdate polyanions reside. The compounds represent the first examples of 3-D carboxylate-bridged lanthanide dimer supramolecular "host" networks formed by pi-pi stacking and hydrogen-bonding interactions encapsulating noncoordinating "guest" polyoxoanion species. The fluorescent activity of compound 3 is reported.