Authors
Jayanta Nanda, Abhijit Biswas, Arindam Banerjee
Publication date
2013
Journal
Soft Matter
Volume
9
Issue
16
Pages
4198-4208
Publisher
Royal Society of Chemistry
Description
A single amino acid (phenylalanine) based pyrene conjugated low molecular weight hydrogelator has been discovered. This amino acid derivative has been found to form hydrogels in a wide range of aqueous solutions of pH 7.46–14 and the estimated minimum gelation concentration (MGC) in phosphate buffer solution at physiological pH 7.46 is 0.037% (w/v) i.e. 0.85 mM. A transparent hydrogel has been produced in the pH range (7.46–10.5), while a translucent hydrogel has been formed at higher pH. The hydrogel has been characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), fluorescence microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), circular dichroism (CD), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and rheological studies. A distinct morphological change of the gel nanofibers from helical to tape-like morphology has been noticed in the FE-SEM studies with an increase in pH. These observations have …
Total citations
Scholar articles
J Nanda, A Biswas, A Banerjee - Soft Matter, 2013