Aggregation induced chirality in a self assembled perylene based hydrogel: application of the intracellular pH measurement

Abstract

With the aim of controlling helicity of self-assembled fibers, a pair of water soluble perylene derivatives has been designed and synthesized. Intermolecular hydrogen bonding interactions and π–π stacking, combined with the effect of molecular chirality, have been found to guide the aggregation that eventually led to gelation in water upon decreasing pH. This work has demonstrated a new paradigm of simple and non-toxic perylene derivatives for biological applications.