Issue 5, 2017

Thermal annealing behaviour and gel to crystal transition of a low molecular weight hydrogelator

Abstract

The thermal annealing behaviour of an electrolyte-triggered calixarene hydrogelator is found to depend strongly on the specific metal chloride used. While the lithium chloride gel showed typical gel–sol transitions as a function of temperature, the magnesium chloride gel was found to repeatedly strengthen with heat–cool cycles. Structural investigations using small-angle neutron scattering, and scanning probe microscopy, suggest that the annealing behaviour is associated with a change in morphology of the fibrous structures supporting the gel. On prolonged standing at room temperature, the magnesium chloride gel underwent a gel–crystal transition, with the collapsing gel accompanied by the deposition of crystals of a magnesium complex of the proline-functionalised calix[4]arene gelator.

Graphical abstract: Thermal annealing behaviour and gel to crystal transition of a low molecular weight hydrogelator

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
28 Oct 2016
Accepted
30 Dec 2016
First published
05 Jan 2017

Soft Matter, 2017,13, 1006-1011

Thermal annealing behaviour and gel to crystal transition of a low molecular weight hydrogelator

E. C. Barker, A. D. Martin, C. J. Garvey, C. Y. Goh, F. Jones, M. Mocerino, B. W. Skelton, M. I. Ogden and T. Becker, Soft Matter, 2017, 13, 1006 DOI: 10.1039/C6SM02431A

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