Metal-ion induced low moleculer weight gel

Abstract

We report molecular state of self-assembly of a amino acid based discotic molecule using spectroscopic and microscopic techniques. Discotic moiety containing phenylalanine forms a metallogel using LiOH at room temperature. The hydrogen bonding and π-π stacking are responsible for the formation of selfassembled metallogel, which is confirmed by FTIR, wide angle X-ray scattering and fluorescence spectroscopic study. SEM revels that the gelator molecules selfassemble into left-handed helical nano-fiber like structure. The viscoelastic nature of the metallogel was investigated by rheological experiments.