title: Supramolecular gel from folic acid with multiple responsiveness, rapid self-recovery and orthogonal self-assemblies.
abstract: Through a good/poor solvent strategy, native folic acid (FA) which behaves as a super-gelator in DMSO-water system can be successfully employed to construct supramolecular gels. The system exhibited morphological evolution with the increase of FA concentration; various phases such as vesicles, fiber/vesicles, fiber/nanoparticles, nanoparticles were probed. In the self-assembly process, l-glutamic acid moiety induced the formation of helical 1-dimensional (1-D) fibers which further self-assembled into a gel. Stimuli like heat, stress, pH and light which affect the molecular structure of FA or solubility in the mixed solvents had a pronounced influence on the properties of the gels, such as mechanical properties or bulk phases. A time-dependent oscillatory stress scan indicated that the supramolecular gel had a self-healing property. Without tedious modification routes and addition of alkali metal ions, native FA which served as an efficient building block and super-gelator to build up multi-responsive and self-recovery material was investigated for the first time.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering and Key Laboratory of Colloid and Interface Chemistry of Ministry of Education, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, PR China. haoay@sdu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Pengyao
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Xing
authors.forename: Xiaoxiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.forename: Mingfang
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Shangyang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Aiyou
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hao
mesh_terms: D004121:Dimethyl Sulfoxide / Q000737:chemistry; D005492:Folic Acid / Q000737:chemistry*; D005782:Gels / Q000737:chemistry*; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry; D012212:Rheology; D012995:Solubility; D044366:Transition Temperature; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D005782:Gels; D014867:Water; D005492:Folic Acid; D004121:Dimethyl Sulfoxide