Multifarious facets of sugar-derived molecular gels: molecular features, mechanisms of self-assembly and emerging applications

Abstract

The remarkable capability of nature to design and create excellent self-assembled nano-structures, especially in the biological world, has motivated chemists to mimic such systems with synthetic molecular and supramolecular systems. The hierarchically organized self-assembly of low molecular weight gelators (LMWGs) based on non-covalent interactions has been proven to be a useful tool in the development of well-defined nanostructures. Among these, the self-assembly of sugar-derived LMWGs has received immense attention because of their propensity to furnish biocompatible, hierarchical, supramolecular architectures that are macroscopically expressed in gel formation. This review sheds light on various aspects of sugar-derived LMWGs, uncovering their mechanisms of gelation, structural analysis, and tailorable properties, and their diverse applications such as stimuli-responsiveness, sensing, self-healing, environmental problems, and nano and biomaterials synthesis.

A Sugar‐Based Gelator for Marine Oil‐Spill Recovery

“…[8,9] Both the benzylidene group and diol motifs are important structural features for gelation;t he vicinal diol motif is essential for hydrogen-bond-mediated self-assembly and the benzylidene group for rigidity (conformational pre-organization). [8,9] Both the benzylidene group and diol motifs are important structural features for gelation;t he vicinal diol motif is essential for hydrogen-bond-mediated self-assembly and the benzylidene group for rigidity (conformational pre-organization).…”

Water‐Assisted Formation of Supramolecular Self‐Assembly Systems Based on Distyrylbenzene Derivative

“…It is well known that the main driving force for formation of organogel is non‐covalent interactions including hydrogen bonding, π‐π stacking interaction, electrostatic interaction, hydrophobic effect, Van der Waals force, and so on . To get stable and functional gel, many groups was introduced into gelators such as long alkyl chains, steroidal group, oligopeptide, urine group and π‐conjugated system . In these groups, π‐conjugated gelators were widely studied due to their innovative optoelectronic application and light‐harvesting system with advantages of flexibility and low‐cost mass production ,.…”

Supramolecular Gelation of Europium and Calcium Cholates through the Nucleation‐Elongation Growth Mechanism

“…Such gels have been used for applications in tissue engineering, sensors, light emitting materials, drug delivery systems, as templates for nanoparticle synthesis, etc. . The most common LMWG are carbohydrate derivatives, amino acids and small peptides, steroid derivatives and nucleic acid analogues .…”