Biorefinery: A Design Tool for Molecular Gelators

Abstract

Molecular gels, the macroscopic products of a nanoscale bottom-up strategy, have emerged as a promising functional soft material. The prospects of tailoring the architecture of gelator molecules have led to the formation of unique, highly tunable gels for a wide spectrum of applications from medicine to electronics. Biorefinery is a concept that integrates the processes of converting biomass/renewable feedstock and the associated infrastructure used to produce chemicals and materials, which is analogous to petroleum-based refinery. The current review assimilates the successful efforts to demonstrate the prospects of the biorefinery concept for developing new amphiphiles as molecular gelators. Amphiphiles based on naturally available raw materials such as amygdalin, vitamin C, cardanol, arjunolic acid, and trehalose that possess specific functionality were synthesized using biocatalysis and/or chemical synthesis. The hydrogels and organogels obtained from such amphiphiles were conceptually demonstrated for diverse applications including drug-delivery systems and the templated synthesis of hybrid materials.

Multifarious facets of sugar-derived molecular gels: molecular features, mechanisms of self-assembly and emerging applications

“…He has published 4220 refereed research papers. Such gels are attractive candidates for a diverse range of applications in a number of diverse fields, including the design and synthesis of biomaterials, [16][17][18][19][20][21] nano-materials, [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31] stimuliresponsive materials, 32 sensors, [33][34][35][36] and templating components for inorganic or organic nanostructures, 37 as well as in molecular electronics [38][39][40][41] and catalysis. Extensive research efforts towards the evolution of novel properties utilizing the underlying principles of self-assembly (i.e., hydrogen bonding, p-p stacking, solvophobic effects, van der Waals forces, charge-transfer interactions and metal-ligand coordination) as a key route has led to the generation of a vast area of research known as supramolecular chemistry.…”

“…[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]23,24,30,32,[35][36][37]42,43,[45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][55][56][57][58][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75] However, there is no review that addresses the interesting topic of sugar-derived gels. There are several review articles in the contemporary literature on various aspects of gels.…”

“…The creation of self-assembling motifs with enzyme responsive moieties offers possibilities for tuning gel-to-sol transition, which may find potential applications such as detecting the activity of enzymes, screening enzyme inhibitors, typing bacteria, and drug delivery. 19,94 Furthermore, the encapsulated curcumin could be released by degrading the gel using a hydrolase (Lipolase 100L, type EX). Lipases.…”

Lithium storage mechanisms in purpurin based organic lithium ion battery electrodes

“…Their recent work on conjugated dicarboxylate anodes and lithium salt of tetrahydroxybenzoquinone suggested a possible alternative to current inorganic based electrodes212223. Recent research on biobased materials demonstrated the prudent use of biomass for value-added chemicals and products in a biorefinery concept2425. Here, we report a novel organic electrode material for lithium ion batteries, purpurin , which has been extracted from a common plant Madder , most often used as a dye for fabrics.…”

Anthracene Dicarboxylate-Based Metal-Organic Framework Gel with Zn2+as a TNT Sensor

“…Supramolecular gels have been studied as soft materials for use in applications such as drug-delivery systems, tissue engineering, sensing devices, separation and optoelectronic devices. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] The incorporation of labile metals or anions within these supramolecular gels is of particular importance because metallogels and coordination polymer gels with metal-organic framework structures have widespread applications in areas such as redox responsiveness, 18,19 catalytic action, 20,21 absorption, 22,23 emission, 24-27 magnetism, 23 and electron emission. 21 In addition, the gels composed of a metal-organic framework (MOF) structure can be rapidly, efficiently, and easily prepared under mild conditions in comparison to a typical crystalline MOF with similar properties.…”