C3-Symmetric, amino acid based organogelators and thickeners: a systematic study of structure–property relations

A class of C3-symmetric amino acid based organogelators and thickeners featuring a rigid core have been developed. Structural variation yielded a number of compounds, the aggregation behaviour and resulting aggregates and gels of which were studied by FTIR spectroscopy, dropping ball measurements, differential scanning calorimetry and transmission electron microscopy. These studies showed that the nature of the core unit, the type of hydrogen-bonding units and the applied amino acids have a strong influence on the interactions, resulting in large differences in aggregation properties, thermal stability and morphology between the various compounds. The results provide a basis for a better understanding of the relation between aggregate/gel properties and molecular structure. The structural variation available for these compounds allows fine-tuning of the gelators with respect to aggregation behaviour and gel properties.