title: A new class of dendritic metallogels with multiple stimuli-responsiveness and as templates for the in situ synthesis of silver nanoparticles.
abstract: A new class of poly(aryl ether) dendritic ligands containing a pyridine functionality at the focal point and the corresponding Ag(I) complexes through metal-ligand coordination were designed, synthesized, and fully characterized. Compared with the dendritic ligands, the corresponding dendritic complexes exhibited much better gelation ability for various organic solvents at very low critical gelation concentrations. The gel-sol phase transition temperatures and morphologies could be finely tuned by binding silver ion to the ligand. A preliminary study revealed that multiple noncovalent interactions, such as Ag(I) -pyridine coordination, solvophobic interaction, and π-π stacking, synergistically enable the formation of stable metallogels. Interestingly, these metallogels could intelligently respond to multiple external stimuli including temperature, chemicals, and shear stress, leading to gel-sol phase transitions. In addition, these dendritic metallogels were successfully applied as templates for the in situ formation and stabilization of silver nanoparticles without the use of any chemical reducing/stabilizing agents.
authors: Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences and CAS Key Laboratory of Molecular Recognition and Function, Institute of Chemistry and Graduate School, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing 100190 (P.R. China).
authors: Zhi-Xiong
authors: ZX
authors: Liu
authors: Yu
authors: Y
authors: Feng
authors: Zhi-Yong
authors: ZY
authors: Zhao
authors: Zhi-Chao
authors: ZC
authors: Yan
authors: Yan-Mei
authors: YM
authors: He
authors: Xu-Jun
authors: XJ
authors: Luo
authors: Chen-Yang
authors: CY
authors: Liu
authors: Qing-Hua
authors: QH
authors: Fan
keywords: dendrimers; gels; ligands; nanoparticles; silver; supramolecular chemistry