title: Cyclodextrin-Assisted Two-Component Sonogel for Visual Humidity Sensing.
abstract: In this work, two naphthalimide-based compounds, 1a and 1b, have been designed and synthesized. Both compounds can form stable two-component gels in n-propanol or n-butanol upon addition of α-cyclodextrin (α-CD) followed by sonication at room temperature. Interestingly, the 1a/α-CD gel is thixotropic and very sensitive to water. Addition of a small amount of water induces rapid gel collapse, allowing further development of the gel as a visual relative humidity sensor. Specificity of the sensor has been confirmed using several approaches, such as scanning electron microscopy and fluorescence, Fourier transform infrared, and1H NMR spectroscopy experiments. The results show that α-CD acts as a junction for the assembly of 1a or 1b through hydrogen bonding between hydroxyl and amide groups. Upon addition of water, α-CD interacts with the adamantane group of 1a via an incomplete host-guest encapsulation, resulting in the dissociation of the hydrogen-bonding-assisted two-component assembly, accompanied by gel collapse.
authors.affiliation: College of Science and Hebei Research Center of Pharmaceutical and Chemical Engineering, Hebei University of Science and Technology , Yuhua Road 70, Shijiazhuang 050080, PR China.
authors.forename: Xudong
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3532-8693
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: College of Science and Hebei Research Center of Pharmaceutical and Chemical Engineering, Hebei University of Science and Technology , Yuhua Road 70, Shijiazhuang 050080, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiaoting
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.affiliation: College of Science and Hebei Research Center of Pharmaceutical and Chemical Engineering, Hebei University of Science and Technology , Yuhua Road 70, Shijiazhuang 050080, PR China.
authors.forename: Lijun
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Geng
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, Fudan University , 220 Handan Road, Shanghai 200433, China.
authors.forename: Haichuang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lan
authors.affiliation: College of Science and Hebei Research Center of Pharmaceutical and Chemical Engineering, Hebei University of Science and Technology , Yuhua Road 70, Shijiazhuang 050080, PR China.
authors.forename: Jujie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: College of Science and Hebei Research Center of Pharmaceutical and Chemical Engineering, Hebei University of Science and Technology , Yuhua Road 70, Shijiazhuang 050080, PR China.
authors.forename: Yajuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, Fudan University , 220 Handan Road, Shanghai 200433, China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3309-8556
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yi
mesh_terms: D000218:Adamantane / Q000737:chemistry; D003505:Cyclodextrins / Q000737:chemistry*; D005782:Gels; D006813:Humidity; D013010:Sonication / Q000379:methods*; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D003505:Cyclodextrins; D005782:Gels; D000218:Adamantane