Design, synthesis, and application of a new series of organogelator using crystal engineering approach and solvent parameter study: A synergetic approach

A new series of organic salts (A1B1-A1B6) based on pivalic acid and primary amine (alicyclic, aromatic, aliphatic) has been designed and synthesized for its potential organogelation behavior. A simple strategy of synthesizing 1-D hydrogen bonded network of PAM (primary ammonium monocarboxylate) leads to the discovery of five new gelators. All the synthesized salts (gelator/non-gelator) were subjected to single crystal X-ray studies to support the hypothesis that 1-D hydrogen bonded networks favor gelation. A detailed study of solvent parameters like dielectric constants, Kamlet-Taft parameters, Hansen parameters, etc. was carried out to get an insight into the role of solvents on the thermal stability and gelation performance of these salts. Organogelation behavior of Salts (A1B1-A1B5) is found to be dependent upon bulk solvent properties such as dielectric constant (ε), polarity index (P′) and a strong correlation between multi-component solvent parameters such as (β) and polar cohesive energy (δp) is observed. Gel network of salt A1B3 (in Acetonitrile solvent) has been used as a template for synthesis of silver nano particles owing to its rectangular hollow xerogel fibers.