Self‐Assembly Studies of a Chiral Bisurea‐Based Superhydrogelator |
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| Authors: | Dr. Francisco Rodríguez‐Llansola Dr. Daniel Hermida‐Merino Belén Nieto‐Ortega Dr. Francisco J. Ramírez Prof. Juan T. López Navarrete Prof. Juan Casado Prof. Ian W. Hamley Dr. Beatriu Escuder Dr. Wayne Hayes Dr. Juan F. Miravet |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Departament de Química Inorgànica i Orgànica, Universitat Jaume I, 12071, Castelló (Spain), Fax: (+34)?964728214;2. DUBBLE beamline at the ESRF, 6 rue Jules Horowitz, BP 220, 38043, CEDEX 9, Grenoble (France);3. Department of Physical Chemistry, University of Málaga, Campus de Teatinos s/n, 29071 Málaga (Spain);4. Department of Chemistry, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading, RG6 6AD (UK) |
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| Abstract: | A chiral bisurea‐based superhydrogelator that is capable of forming supramolecular hydrogels at concentrations as low as 0.2 mM is reported. This soft material has been characterized by thermal studies, rheology, X‐ray diffraction analysis, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and by various spectroscopic techniques (electronic and vibrational circular dichroism and by FTIR and Raman spectroscopy). The expression of chirality on the molecular and supramolecular levels has been studied and a clear amplification of its chirality into the achiral analogue has been observed. Furthermore, thermal analysis showed that the hydrogelation of compound 1 has a high response to temperature, which corresponds to an enthalpy‐driven self‐assembly process. These particular thermal characteristics make these materials easy to handle for soft‐application technologies. |
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| Keywords: | chirality hydrogels self‐assembly soft materials supramolecular chemistry |
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