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Catalytic control over supramolecular gel formation

Nature Chemistry volume 5, pages 433–437 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

Low-molecular-weight gels show great potential for application in fields ranging from the petrochemical industry to healthcare and tissue engineering. These supramolecular gels are often metastable materials, which implies that their properties are, at least partially, kinetically controlled. Here we show how the mechanical properties and structure of these materials can be controlled directly by catalytic action. We show how in situ catalysis of the formation of gelator molecules can be used to accelerate the formation of supramolecular hydrogels, which drastically enhances their resulting mechanical properties. Using acid or nucleophilic aniline catalysis, it is possible to make supramolecular hydrogels with tunable gel-strength in a matter of minutes, under ambient conditions, starting from simple soluble building blocks. By changing the rate of formation of the gelator molecules using a catalyst, the overall rate of gelation and the resulting gel morphology are affected, which provides access to metastable gel states with improved mechanical strength and appearance despite an identical gelator composition.

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Figure 1: Concept of a catalysed gelator and gel formation.
Figure 2: Influence of catalysis on material formation and appearance.
Figure 3: Influence of catalysis on material morphology.
Figure 4: Gel properties and formation dynamics depend on catalyst loading.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the European Commission (a Marie Curie European Reintegration grant, R.E.) and the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (a VENI grant (R.E.), a VICI grant (J.H.v.E., J.B.) and an ECHO grant (R.E., J.H.v.E., J.M.P.)) for funding.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Julianalaan 136, 2628 BL Delft, The Netherlands

    Job Boekhoven, Jos M. Poolman, Chandan Maity, Feng Li, Lars van der Mee, Christophe B. Minkenberg, Eduardo Mendes, Jan H. van Esch & Rienk Eelkema

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Contributions

J.B., R.E. and J.H.v.E. designed the experiments, J.B., J.M.P., C.B.M., F.L., E.M. and R.E. performed the experiments and analysed the data, J.M.P., C.B.M., L.v.d.M., C.M. and R.E. synthesized the molecules, R.E. and J.H.v.E. guided the research and all authors contributed to discussing the results and editing the manuscript. R.E. wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jan H. van Esch or Rienk Eelkema.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Boekhoven, J., Poolman, J., Maity, C. et al. Catalytic control over supramolecular gel formation. Nature Chem 5, 433–437 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.1617

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