We have been investigating the formation of hydrogels via the self-assembly of functionalised dipeptides.Here, we describe multi-component, mixed gelator systems, showing that we can form self-sorted systems, where the two dipeptides discriminate between self and non-self. We show how the order of the assembly can be controlled. The assembly of each component is preprogrammed by the pKaof the gelator. Assembly occurs at the pKa; hence a controlled pH drop can be used to access higher level, complex structures that cannot be accessed by simple thermal gelation.Here, we will focus on the impact of the self-sorting on the final properties of the gels formed using such mixed systems will be described. We demonstrate control over the mechanical properties of the gels. These methods allow the generation of more complex, higher order self-sorted systems.

Self-sorting gelator networks

248th National Meeting (2014)

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