Instant gelation of various organic fluids including petrol at room temperature by a new class of supramolecular gelators

Abstract

The supramolecular synthon concept has been exploited to generate a series of new organo gelators derived from salts of a primary amine and various derivatives of cinnamic acid. One such gelator, namely, benzylammonium cinnamate 13 (CIN) displays instant gelation ability at room temperature either with or without a brief exposure to sound. Most interestingly, inflammable commercial fluids such as petrol can be gelled instantly by 13 (CIN) at room temperature, which may find real-life applications in containing oil spill, oil mopping, and convenient transport of oil. Analyses of the single-crystal structures of eight salts suggest that structure−property correlation studies in gel research is quite important so that a rational approach may be undertaken to obtain facile synthesis of new gelator compounds.