Chiral/ring closed vs. achiral/open chain triazine-based organogelators: induction and amplification of supramolecular chirality in organic gels

Soft Matter. 2014 Jun 7;10(21):3762-70. doi: 10.1039/c4sm00354c. Epub 2014 Apr 15.

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to compare the gelling behavior of two molecules: a chiral compound and its achiral counterpart. The chiral partner is characterized by a rigid, chiral pyrrolidine nucleus, while the achiral one contains a flexible diethanolamine moiety. The chiral compound is an already known good organogelator, but also the achiral compound shows remarkable gelling properties. Very interestingly, a small fraction of the chiral compound induces chirality and strong CD effects in its aggregates with the achiral one. The observed chirality amplification corresponds to a peculiar sergeant-and-soldier effect. Molecular modelling and CD calculations suggested a model for the supramolecular assembly of hetero-aggregates that fits the experimental data.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't