Issue 19, 2018

Supramolecular gelatons: towards the design of molecular gels

Abstract

The fabrication and application of supramolecular gels have achieved great progress in the past few decades. Although several reviews and books have well summarized the design, properties and functions of certain supramolecular gels, a comprehensive overview is still lacking to reveal the design strategy of the supramolecular gels. In this review, we propose a concept of a supramolecular gelaton, which is a structural unit or molecule for the design and construction of the supramolecular gels, to show how to design the targeted functional gels. We classify the gelaton into two types. One is a covalent gelaton that when covalently connects with other functional groups results in a molecule that can become a gelator. The other type is a non-covalent gelaton, which is a gelator molecule that can assist other gelator or non-gelator molecules to form gels. We hope that the concept of supramolecular gelatons will provide useful guidance and understanding of the design of gelator molecules and preparation of supramolecular gels.

Graphical abstract: Supramolecular gelatons: towards the design of molecular gels

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
25 jun 2018
Accepted
07 aug 2018
First published
08 aug 2018

Org. Chem. Front., 2018,5, 2885-2900

Supramolecular gelatons: towards the design of molecular gels

M. Liu, G. Ouyang, D. Niu and Y. Sang, Org. Chem. Front., 2018, 5, 2885 DOI: 10.1039/C8QO00620B

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements