Chemical fuel-driven gelation with dissipative assembly-induced emission

Abstract

Fuel-driven dissipative self-assembly is ubiquitous in living systems, such as the formation of microtubules and mitotic spindles. The study of out-of-equilibrium materials is of great significance for the development of life-like processes in chemistry. Herein, we designed and constructed a dissipative self-assembly system based on the hydrophilic multiple-carboxylate-anion molecules G1 and G2, by using dimethyl sulfate (DMS) as the chemical fuel. The mixed aqueous solution of G1 and G2 can be rapidly transformed into a hybrid hydrogel upon the addition of DMS, and then it slowly changed back into a sol solution. Intriguingly, the dissipative self-assembly process can simultaneously induce a strong fluorescence emission enhancement owing to the rigidification of the matrix.