Molecular gels are formed by the self-assembly of small molecules into a material that exhibits solid-like behavior, but is largely comprised of liquid. Details as to what causes a molecule to form a gel and the mechanism of gelation remain elusive. Furthermore, there is no reliable method to identify gelators from nongelators without extensive screening. This talk will therefore describe our efforts to towards predicting new gelators from their crystal structures. We recently discovered a novel stimuli-responsive gelator by examining crystal structures of mercury complexes containing 1D mercury-p intermolecular interactions. Subsequent modification of the ligand scaffold led to the discovery of both gelators and nongelators. We then determined the enthalpy and entropy of dissolution for all of these compounds to identify possible structure-gelation trends. This information should provide valuable insight into the differences between gelators and non-gelators and eventually aid in the design of new gelators.

Molecules to materials: The design of mercury-containing gelators

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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