As renewable recourses, carbohydrates are not only important in energy and materials sciences, but also in chemistry and biology. Sugars contain multiple chiral centers and can be selectively functionalized to produce interesting new materials or biologically active compounds. We have been working on the synthesis and self-assembling of various monosaccharide derivatives, and discovered several novel classes of sugar based low molecular weight gelators (LMWGs). These compounds form unique classes of soft materials that are useful in biomedical research and as advanced functional materials. We have systematically studied their gelation proeprties and obtained knowledge on the functionalization of monosaccharaides that will result in gelation in different solvents. In this presentation, our recent progress on several new derivatives of glucosamine will be reported. These include the various modifications at the anomeric position and the protective groups at 4,6-hydroxyl groups.

Synthesis and properties of monosaccharide derived organogelators

245th National Meeting (2013)

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