Development of novel aromatic ambidextrous gelators based on molecular design.

• Novel aromatic ambidextrous gelators have been discovered. • The glutamic-based gelators show an ambidextrous properties. • The aspartate-based gelator exhibits no ambidextrous properties. Although large amounts of organogelators and hydrogelators have been available, the ambidextrous gelators that can gelate both organic solvents, especially, apolar solvents and water are very limited. Furthermore, most of them have been found out incidentally. In order to create powerful ambidextrous gelators it should be necessary to tackle a bottom-up approach based on organic synthesis. Thus, according to molecular design the amphiphilic aromatic compounds consisting of glutamate- or aspartate-based structure having two long alkyl chains and some ethylene glycol units have been prepared. The glutamate-based amphiphilic compounds having one ethylene glycol unit or two ethylene glycol units exhibited an excellent ambidextrous capability because they can only gelate benzene, toluene and water, however, introduction of three ethylene glycol units prevented gelating water. On the other hand the corresponding aspartate-based amphiphilic compound showed no such ambidextrous properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]