Issue 41, 2023

Pathway complexity in fibre assembly: from liquid crystals to hyper-helical gelmorphs

Abstract

Pathway complexity results in unique materials from the same components according to the assembly conditions. Here a chiral acyl-semicarbazide gelator forms three different gels of contrasting fibre morphology (termed ‘gelmorphs’) as well as lyotropic liquid crystalline droplets depending on the assembly pathway. The gels have morphologies that are either hyperhelical (HH-Gel), tape-fibre (TF-Gel) or thin fibril derived from the liquid crystalline phase (LC-Gels) and exhibit very different rheological properties. The gelator exists as three slowly interconverting conformers in solution. All three gels are comprised of an unsymmetrical, intramolecular hydrogen bonded conformer. The kinetics show that formation of the remarkable HH-Gel is cooperative and is postulated to involve association of the growing fibril with a non-gelling conformer. This single molecule dynamic conformational library shows how very different materials with different morphology and hence very contrasting materials properties can arise from pathway complexity as a result of emergent interactions during the assembly process.

Graphical abstract: Pathway complexity in fibre assembly: from liquid crystals to hyper-helical gelmorphs

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
25 jul. 2023
Accepted
25 sep. 2023
First published
26 sep. 2023
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2023,14, 11389-11401

Pathway complexity in fibre assembly: from liquid crystals to hyper-helical gelmorphs

R. Contreras-Montoya, J. P. Smith, S. C. Boothroyd, J. A. Aguilar, M. Mirzamani, M. A. Screen, D. S. Yufit, M. Robertson, L. He, S. Qian, H. Kumari and J. W. Steed, Chem. Sci., 2023, 14, 11389 DOI: 10.1039/D3SC03841F

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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