Synthesis and gelation of a series of low-molecular-weight gelators based on Fmoc-dipeptide in alcoholic solvents

A series of Fmoc-Lys(Fmoc)-Tyr-OR (R=Me, Et, Hex) gelators were synthesized and characterized, which were found to gelate a number of aliphatic alcohols to give translucent or opaque thermo-reversible organogels. Nanofiber and spherulitic networks were evidenced in the self-assemblies in n-hexanol and n-propanol by TEM, respectively. IR and fluorescence studies revealed that the hydrogen bonding and π- π stacking acted as a significant driving force for the self-assembly. As a result, the intensity of hydrogen bonding in xerogel was lower than that in the solid, which was further confirmed by XRD analyses.