Enhanced gelation property due to intra-molecular hydrogen bonding in a new series of bis(amino acid)-functionalized pyridine-2,6-dicarboxamide organogelators

A series of pyridine-2,6-dicarboxamide derivatives containing two α-amino acid pendant groups was prepared and characterized. Three of the synthesized compounds obtained from this series, all having aromatic amino acid side chains, were found to be excellent organogelators toward aromatic solvents (mgc∼10-20 mg/mL), alcoholic solvents (mgc∼4-15 mg/mL), and CCl₄ (mgc∼4-10 mg/mL). It was found that the intra-molecular hydrogen bonds between the pyridine dicarboxamide N-Hs and the pyridine N atom were the key structural elements for gel formation. This series of compounds represented one of the rare examples where both inter- and intra-molecular hydrogen bonds were needed for effective gel formation. FTIR, ¹H NMR, and CD spectroscopy revealed that both hydrogen bonding and π-π aromatic stacking were the driving forces for gelation.