New organogels based on an anthracene derivative with one urea group and its photodimer: fluorescence enhancement after gelation

By coupling the features of anthracene and urea, a new low-molecular-weight gelator (LMWG, 1) with anthracene and urea moieties was designed and synthesized. A nontransparent gel of LMWG 1 in 1,2-dichloroethane was formed and characterized. Of particular interest is the observation of significant fluorescence enhancement after gelation, which is referred as to gelation-induced enhanced fluorescence emission. UV light irradiation of the THF solution of LMWG 1 yielded a photodimer with the h-t conformation. The photodimer can gel several organic solvents, including cyclohexane, n-hexane, and n-heptane. It should be mentioned that the gel based on the photodimer is rather stable. Our studies indicate that neither the gel phase based on LMWG 1 nor that based on the photodimer can be transformed to the solution by respective UV light irradiation or visible light irradiation/heating.