Tuning Soft Nanostructures in Self‐assembled Supramolecular Gels: From Morphology Control to Morphology‐Dependent Functions

Abstract

Supramolecular gels are one kind of important soft material, in which small low-molecular weight compounds self-assemble into various nanostructures through non-covalent interactions to immobilize the solvents. While there are many important fundamental issues related to the gelation process, such as the design of the gelator, synergism of various non-covalent interactions between gelators, gelator-solvents, the balances between gelation and crystallization and so on, the self-assembled nanostructures forming during gelation are very interesting. These nanostructures have many unique features, such as the flexibility to respond to external stimuli, morphological diversity, ease of fabrication in large quantities, and so on. This review highlights some important features in tuning the nanostructures in the supramolecular gels from their morphological diversity, morphology control, morphology conversion, and morphology-depended functions.

Supra‐dendron Gelator Based on Azobenzene–Cyclodextrin Host–Guest Interactions: Photoswitched Optical and Chiroptical Reversibility

“…1 Ha nd 13 CNMR spectra were recorded on aB ruker Fourier 300 (300 MHz) spectrometer from solutions in CDCl 3 or [D 6 ]DMSO using Me 4 Si as an internal standard. AFM was performed in Fastscan mode on aN anoscope IIIa (Digital Instruments) with ap yramidal Si 3 N 4 tip.…”

“…[41,42] Isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) [43] was, thus, carried out to determine the stoichiometry and binding constants of the inclusion complexes. 1 HNMR spectroscopy was employed to investigate the binding behavior of AZOC 8 GAc with CDs. The results revealed the complexation stoichiometries between AZOC 8 GAc gelator and a-, b-, and g-cyclodextrins to be around 1:1, 5:4, and 2:1, respectively.M oreover, the binding constantsf or inclusion within a-, b-, and g-cyclodextrins were calculated as 98.4 10 2 , 26.6 10 2 ,a nd 29.1 10 2 m À1 ,r espectively.T hus, a-CD showed ah ighera ssociation constant with azobenzene and was an eminently superior host compared with b-o rg-CD.…”

“…[1][2][3][4][5] Numerous soft, smartm aterials have been fabricated based on such responsive gels, which find many applications in various fields, such as biological substance release, [6][7][8] mechanical shape memory, [9,10] environmental remediation, [11][12][13][14] and so forth. [1][2][3][4][5] Numerous soft, smartm aterials have been fabricated based on such responsive gels, which find many applications in various fields, such as biological substance release, [6][7][8] mechanical shape memory, [9,10] environmental remediation, [11][12][13][14] and so forth.…”

Two bent-shaped π-organogelators: synthesis, fluorescence, self-assembly and detection of volatile acid vapours in gel films and in gel–gel states

“…17 To get a more detailed understanding of the self-assembly process that lead to the formation of a gel, morphologies of the dilute solutions (0.1-1 mM) as well as the xerogels (freeze-dried gels) were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). 17 To get a more detailed understanding of the self-assembly process that lead to the formation of a gel, morphologies of the dilute solutions (0.1-1 mM) as well as the xerogels (freeze-dried gels) were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM).…”

Enantioselective Activity of Hemin in Supramolecular Gels Formed by Co‐Assembly with a Chiral Gelator

“…On the other hand, supramolecular gel is an important media to realize chirality transfer and chiral amplification . Various uniform chiral nanostructures ranging from chiral twists, helical ribbons, helical tubes can be prepared by supramolecular gelation ,. And these chiral structures exhibited application in enantiomeric recognition, asymmetric catalysis and template for chiral nanomaterials .…”